The family of Muppet creator Jim Henson has succeeded in a surprise bid to repurchase the company they sold to a German media firm in 2000.
The Henson family decided only two weeks ago to bid for The Jim Henson Co, which they will buy for a fraction of what Munich-based EM.TV paid for it, according to Brian Henson, the son of the company's late founder.
Munich-based EM.TV bought the company, and the rights to characters such as Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, in February 2000 for US$680 million in cash and stock.
But in May 2001, it said it was considering selling the Los Angeles-based firm. It has since sold some Henson assets, including the Sesame Street rights, for about US$200 million.
On Wednesday, it said it was selling the rest of Henson for US$78 million in cash and was keeping the US$11 million that the Henson operation had on hand.
"The family has been watching on the sidelines, sadly watching as EM.TV collapsed and never even started [planning what] they were going to do, and then painfully [watched] as the company was put back on the market," Henson said Wednesday in an interview.
``Both out of concern for where the company might end up and the legacy of Jim Henson ... `enough is enough,' we decided to come back in to run the company,'' he said.
Other companies thought to have made bids included The Walt Disney Co. Disney planned to buy the company at least once before, but the deal fell apart shortly after Jim Henson's death in 1990.
Brian Henson, 39, would not say if his family's bid was prompted by concern that the Muppets would be bought by Disney.
"Disney is a terrific company," Henson said. "We only have the highest respect for Disney as a company."
Jim Henson founded his company in 1958, inventing the term "muppet" as a cross between the words marionette and puppet.
The buyers include five Henson children: Brian, a brother and three sisters. The assets they bought include The Muppets, The Muppet Babies, The Fraggles, The Hoobs, Farscape and Bear in the Big Blue House.
The sale agreement still requires approval by EM.TV shareholders. EM.TV's annual general meeting is scheduled for July 20.
Henson said his family decided to sell in 2000 because, as independent producers, they could not raise enough cash to become the kind of vertically integrated media company they felt they needed to be to survive.
"It was looking like we wouldn't even get on the air if we didn't own a TV channel," Henson said. "We decided the `grow bigger' scenario was the best for the company."
Unfortunately, Henson said, EM.TV never followed through on its promise to spend money to market the Muppet characters and produce new projects.
"Instead, the emphasis of the company went to `What can we split off and sell' as opposed to `How do we build up the Muppets,'" Henson said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique