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Disney to take over Maker Studios for US$500 million

Multi-channel subsidiary that houses Polaris and Maker Music video channels will be paid US$450 million more if it meets “strong” performance targets

Video-streaming fans of Polaris and Maker Music may want to pay attention: the House of Mouse will be taking over both channel’s parent company Maker Studios.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, Walt Disney Co. will be buying the company for US$500 million. Disney will also add in US$450 million if the online video content company meets “strong” performance targets. Essentially, the takeover total will be worth US$950 million — the biggest that Disney has done this year.

According to Disney Chairman and CEO Robert A Iger, the buyout will make Disney a center in the ever-growing and dynamic business. Because of this announcement, Disney stock rose up 0.4 per cent to US$79.84 in extended trade. Maker Studios will report to Disney’s Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo.

Read Also: Disney’s video game division lays off 700 employees

Disney has landed on a potential gold mine; Maker Studios has more than 55,000 channels, 380 million subscribers and 5.5 billion views a month on YouTube. One of the video content’s channels, Polaris, is known for housing YouTube gaming critics and video makers like Felix “PewDiePie” Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, Joe “Angry Joe” Vargas and John “TotalBiscuit” Bain.

In related news, Disney competitor DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. previously bought online content maker AwesomenessTV for US$33 million, with US$117 million in incentives last year.

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