Global Financing Deal To Fund Self-Producing Own TV/Film

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DARK HORSE Makes Global Financing Deal To Fund Self-Producing Own TV/Film Projects

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icv2.com/articles/news/view/41721/richardson-retains-large-chunk-after-chinese-investment-dark-horse

RICHARDSON RETAINS 'LARGE CHUNK' AFTER CHINESE INVESTMENT IN DARK HORSE
Growth of 'Retail Efforts' One Purpose of Investment
Posted by Milton Griepp on October 31, 2018 @ 7:01 am CT



Dark Horse Comics CEO and founder Mike Richardson will retain what he described as a "large chunk" of the company after a "large investment into a number of areas, including a stock purchase,... a development fund and a film fund, investment in the publishing and product divisions, and expansion of our retail efforts," Richardson told ICv2. The investment comes from Vanguard Visionary Assets, a Chinese company associated with former Walt Disney Company in Greater China Chairman Stanley Cheung. The "large chunk" characterization of Richardson’s remaining share came in response to a question asking if he retained a majority share.

Cheung is joining the five-person Dark Horse Entertainment board, and Richardson will remain as CEO of the company, overseeing its operations.

Dark Horse Entertainment LLC owns Dark Horse Comics LLC (founded in 1986), Dark Horse Studios LLC (1992), and retail chain Things From Another World (1980). All three divisions are receiving investment as part of the deal.

In addition to capital for expansion of publishing and retail, and funding for film development and production, the new deal "gives us access to new markets," Richardson emphasized. "I did this deal to accelerate company growth. Nothing like cash and new markets to help with that task." The key market targeted for expansion is China, according to the announcement, along with other international markets.

Asked about the genesis of the deal, Richardson told ICv2, "We started out working with them to build a film fund. The deal expanded into other areas as we continued down that path." He was anxious to bat down speculation that the migration of some licenses over the last few years (Star Wars and Conan to Marvel, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to BOOM! Studios) had necessitated the search for capital. "I get tired of hearing that," he told us. "We are large enough and diverse enough that, while I don’t like losing them, those licenses were easily replaced from a financial perspective."

Richardson also noted the scale of Dark Horse projects in the pipe for other media. "At the same time, our film division is off the charts right now with two Netflix projects already filmed, a new SyFy series, a new Hellboy film set to be released shortly, a dozen other projects being developed," he said.

Richardson noted the company’s long history of self-financed expansion prior to this deal. "We’ve had great success over the years, funding our company internally and watching it grow from modest beginnings through the hard work of our amazing staff," he said in the announcement. "This new arrangement will allow us to accelerate our growth and extend our reach worldwide… It will also present new opportunities for our employees as well as the talented content creators we work with."

Dark Horse is the second mid-sized American comics company to attract a substantial Chinese investment. Valiant Entertainment obtained a major investment from Chinese company DMG Entertainment in 2015 (see "Valiant Gets Major Investment" and was acquired early this year (see "Valiant Comics Acquired by DMG Entertainment").

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Everyone Caught This But Me: Vanguard Visionary Assets Now Majority Owner At Dark Horse

Deal described by Milton Griepp here and discussed by Heidi MacDonald here. Both stories underline Mike Richardson remains CEO and retains a significant ownership share.

I have no real opinion about this. I guess there's an angle where you point out that VVA is a Chinese company, which I'm not sure really says anything specific to comics except that there is always the promise/hope that that country can be opened as a market -- a not unreasonable expectation, I suppose, at least the chance this might happen. It does look like Dark Horse's attention to its post loss of Star Wars core properties and its creation of very friendly to film and TV properties like Resident Alien make it a more friendlier partner for media companies like Netflix. I'm grateful for artists to have those opportunities and hope they're fairly executed.


icv2.com/articles/news/view/41721/richardson-retains-large-chunk-after-chinese-investment-dark-horse


www.comicsbeat.com/dark-horses-majority-owner-is-now-a-chinese-company/

Dark Horse’s majority owner is now a Chinese company

In an interview with ICv2 – and an email conversation with the Beat – Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson has revealed more details of the deal with Vanguard Visionary Associates, a Chinese company led by former Disney exec Stanley Cheung. The deal was announced late Friday, and involves major funding from VVA. It appears that VVA is now the majority owner of Dark Horse.

Speaking to ICv2, Richardson said he owns “a large chunk” of Dark Horse. Richardson characterized it as “a significant chunk” in an email to The Beat. Both statements were in response to whether he still owned a majority stake in the company.

This is a huge move for the direct sales market – Dark Horse is the third or fourth biggest consistently in the top five comics companies depending on how you measure it – but it is also a significant move for Dark Horse to grow.

The deal will allow major expansion in Dark Horse projects to the Chinese market. Richardson told the Beat it will also allow Dark Horse to self-finance its own media adaptations, which can be a big advantage.

Icv2 had more details:

Asked about the genesis of the deal, Richardson told ICv2, “We started out working with them to build a film fund. The deal expanded into other areas as we continued down that path.” He was anxious to bat down speculation that the migration of some licenses over the last few years (Star Wars and Conan to Marvel, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to BOOM! Studios) had necessitated the search for capital. “I get tired of hearing that,” he told us. “We are large enough and diverse enough that, while I don’t like losing them, those licenses were easily replaced from a financial perspective.”

Richardson also noted the scale of Dark Horse projects in the pipe for other media. “At the same time, our film division is off the charts right now with two Netflix projects already filmed, a new SyFy series, a new Hellboy film set to be released shortly, a dozen other projects being developed,” he said.

The SyFy project Resident Alien starring Alan Tudyk; at Netflix the two projects are the eagerly awaited Umbrella Academy adaptation and a show based on Cullen Bunn’s Harrow County. Dark Horse has been forging a stronger relationship with NEtflix in the last 12 months, including the Stranger Things comics adaptation.

Richardson, 68, is one of the true self made titans of the modern comics industry, and under his watch Dark Horse has expanded into manga, licensing, merchandise, retail, film, TV and just about every other media. Its licensed comics – Star Wars, Bufy and so many more – set the standard for modern comics licensing. Dark Horse also led the way for offbeat comics media adpatation with The Mask, back in the day, and Hellboy more recently.

In other words, Dark Horse has had an amazing past. Joining with a larger partner is part of the change it needed to make to move into the multi-national future.

What will the day to day effect by on Dark Horse? More to come on that.

CORRECTION: I initially said that Dark Horse was the 3rd or 4th biggest company but it was pointed out to me that Image has really been the #3 consistently for the better part of the decade. In the past Dark Horse ranked as high as #3 but is ually #5 these days.