Sony is paying roughly $460 milliion to purchase Peanuts [PDF] and its characters, together with Snoopy and Charlie Brown, created by Charles M. Schulz. That’s a 41 p.c stake Sony is shopping for from Canadian agency WildBrain. Since Sony purchased 39 p.c of the franchise again in 2018, it will give the corporate an 80 p.c stake. The deal remains to be topic to regulatory approvals, however Peanuts will change into Sony’s consolidated subsidiary as soon as it’s closed. Schulz’s household nonetheless owns the remaining 20 p.c stake within the franchise.

Schulz launched the Peanuts universe in comedian strips 75 years in the past, again in 1950. The franchise has grown massively since then, spawning animated collection, cartoon musicals and films that made Snoopy a family title. The corporate stated that it has centered on increasing the Peanuts IP because it purchased 39 p.c of the model years in the past. “With this extra possession stake, we’re thrilled to have the ability to additional elevate the worth of the ʻPEANUTSʼ model by drawing on the Sony Groupʼs intensive international community and collective experience,” Sony Music Leisure Japan CEO Shunsuke Muramatsu added.