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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mass media |
| Founded | April 2014; 10 years ago (2014-04) |
| Defunct | May 31, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-05-31) |
| Fate | Folded into WarnerMedia Sales & Distribution |
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Key people | Tony Goncalves (CEO) Andy Forssell (COO) Sean Kisker (CSO) |
| Products | OTT Services Digital Networks Film Production Film Distribution Online Television Programming Events |
| Operating income | $500 million (2014) |
| Number of employees | 1,400 (2018) |
| Parent | AT&T (2014-2019) The Chernin Group (2014–2018) Warner Bros. Entertainment (2019) |
Otter Media Holdings, LLC was an American digital media company owned by AT&T. The company was founded in April 2014 by AT&T and The Chernin Group as a holding company of the anime streaming service Crunchyroll, in which the latter invested in 2013.
In addition to Crunchyroll, it owned Rooster Teeth and held an ownership stake in Gunpowder & Sky with Floris Bauer. AT&T would later acquire the remaining stake of Otter Media in 2018, which the subsidiary was folded into the WarnerMedia subsidiary, and later divested Crunchyroll to Sony Pictures Television's subsidiary company Funimation Global Group, LLC in 2021.
History
In April 2014, AT&T and the Chernin Group established Otter Media as the 50:50 joint venture to offer OTT services.
In January 2016, Otter Media invested in Van Toffler (former CEO of Viacom Media Networks Music Group) and Floris Bauer's Gunpowder & Sky, a digital content company, which eventually merged with FilmBuff. In November 2016, Otter Media and actress Reese Witherspoon formed Hello Sunshine, a joint venture focused on telling female-driven stories on film, TV, and digital platforms; the company was later sold to a media company backed by the Blackstone Group.
In January 2018, Otter Media bought the remaining stake in Ellation, the owner of VRV and Crunchyroll, and integrated it as Otter Media's Consumer Division. On June 20, 2018, Recode reported that AT&T was close to buying out Chernin's stake in Otter Media, on the heel of its acquisition of Time Warner (whose digital media holdings included Machinima). On August 7, 2018, AT&T announced their acquisition of Chernin Group's stake in Otter Media for an undisclosed amount, believed to be around $1 billion. On August 22, 2018, Ellation formed Ellation Studios, a production studio with facilities in both the U.S. and Japan, to produce original content for Crunchyroll and VRV. On December 4, 2018, Otter announced a broad restructuring that would result in the layoff of about ten percent of its staff. As part of the reorganization, Machinima, which had been part of Warner Bros. Digital Networks, was re-organized under Otter Media. Ellation will now house Rooster Teeth, Crunchyroll, and VRV, while Machinima became a unit of Fullscreen.
On March 4, 2019, following the reconstruction of WarnerMedia's businesses, Otter Media became part of Warner Bros. Entertainment. However, on May 31, it was folded into the WarnerMedia Entertainment division.
On December 9, 2020, Sony-owned Funimation Global Group, LLC announced its acquisition of Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia for $1.175 billion. The deal was finalized on August 9, 2021.
Assets
- Rooster Teeth - formerly a division of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment
- Fullscreen - team laid off and company absorbed into WBD Ad Sales
- McBeard
- Reelio
- Machinima, Inc. - merged into Fullscreen in 2019
- Hello Sunshine (joint venture with Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rodsky and Emerson Creative) - sold
- Ellation – sold to Sony's Funimation Global Group in 2021
- Crunchyroll
- Crunchyroll EMEA
- VRV
- Crunchyroll Expo
- Crunchyroll Anime Awards
- Crunchyroll Games
- Gunpowder & Sky (Joint venture with Floris Bauer)
References
- "AT&T Digital Executive Named CEO of Otter Media". hollywoodreporter.com. February 12, 2018.
- Spangler, Todd (April 22, 2014). "AT&T, Chernin Group Invest $500 Million in Over-the-Top Video Venture". Variety.com. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
- Roettgers, Janko (August 3, 2015). "Chernin, AT&T Set Brand for New Online Video Venture: Ellation (Exclusive)". Variety.com. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
- Roettgers, Janko (November 4, 2015). "Chernin's Otter Media Aims for More Than $200M Revenue This Year". Variety.com. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
- ^ Roettgers, Janko (January 24, 2018). "AT&T-Chernin J.V. Otter Media Buys Out Remaining Fullscreen, Crunchyroll Owners". Variety. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
- "Otter Media Buys Remainder of Its Digital Businesses Fullscreen, Ellation". The Hollywood Reporter. January 24, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
- Spangler, Todd (September 30, 2014). "AT&T, Chernin Group Name 2 Execs to Run Over-the-Top Video Venture". Variety. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
- Spangler, Todd (January 13, 2016). "Van Toffler Launches Digital Studio Backed by Chernin Group, AT&T". Variety. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- Busch, Anita (November 21, 2016). "Reese Witherspoon, Otter Media Pact For New Company Hello Sunshine". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 16, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- "Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Sold for $900 Million to Media Company Backed by Blackstone". August 2, 2021.
- "AT&T is getting ready to acquire all of Otter Media, the streaming video company it co-owns with Peter Chernin". Recode. Archived from the original on June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
- Spangler, Todd (August 7, 2018). "AT&T Buys Out Chernin Group's Stake in Otter Media". Variety. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
- Roettgers, Janko (August 22, 2018). "AT&T's Ellation Launches Studios in Burbank and Tokyo to Produce Crunchyroll Originals". variety.com.
- "Deeper Dive—AT&T has extra SVOD gems in Crunchyroll and VRV". www.fiercevideo.com. August 23, 2018.
- Spangler, Todd (December 4, 2018). "AT&T's Otter Media Lays Off 10% of Staff, Will Absorb Machinima in Reorg". Variety. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
- Weiss, Geoff (January 22, 2019). "After Porting Its Creator Network To Fullscreen, Machinima Wipes Seminal YouTube Channel". Tubefilter. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
- Alexander, Julia (January 19, 2019). "Machinima, one of YouTube's biggest and oldest channels, goes dark". The Verge. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
- Feiner, Lauren (March 4, 2019). "WarnerMedia reorganizes its leadership team after AT&T acquisition". CNBC. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
- Spangler, Todd (May 31, 2019). "WarnerMedia Reorg Gives Otter Media's Tony Goncalves Oversight of Streaming Service Development". Variety. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
- Goldberg, Lesley (May 31, 2019). "Otter Media Folded Into WarnerMedia Group". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 25, 2024.
- Spangler, Todd (December 9, 2020). "AT&T to Sell Crunchyroll to Sony's Funimation for $1.175 Billion". Variety. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/fullscreen-inc
- "About Us - Gunpowder & Sky". Gunpowder & Sky. August 22, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
External links
Categories:
- Otter Media
- American companies established in 2014
- American companies disestablished in 2019
- Mass media companies established in 2014
- Mass media companies disestablished in 2019
- 2018 mergers and acquisitions
- Former Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries
- Companies based in Santa Monica, California
- Former joint ventures