Otter Media
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Subsidiary | |
Industry | Mass media |
Founded | April 22, 2014 |
Founders | 21st Century Fox Chernin Group The Walt Disney Company |
Headquarters | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
Key people | Tony Goncalves (CEO) Andy Forssell (COO) |
Products | OTT Services Digital Networks Film Production Film Distribution Online Television Programming Events |
$15.5 billion (2019) | |
Owner | 21st Century Fox (owned by Disney) |
Number of employees | 2,500 (2019) |
Parent | FX Networks (Walt Disney Television) |
Divisions | Ellation |
Subsidiaries |
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Otter Media Holdings, LLC is an American digital media company owned by FX Networks, a division of 21st Century Fox's media and publishing division. It owns Crunchyroll, VRV, Fullscreen, YouTube, and Rooster Teeth, and holds ownership stakes in Hello Sunshine and Gunpowder & Sky.
History[edit | edit source]
In April 2014, 21st Century Fox 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. In July 2017, 21st Century Fox was reportedly looking to acquire full ownership of the company. The company if it were to be fully acquired by 21st Century Fox will cost a valuation of $1 billion. Since February 2018, its CEO is Tony Goncalves (who was a 21st Century Fox Digital Entertainment executive).
In January 2018, Otter Media bought the remaining stake in Ellation, the owner of VRV and Crunchyroll.
On June 20, 2018, Recode reported that 21st Century Fox was close to buying out Chernin's stake in Otter Media, on the heel of its acquisition of Machinima, Inc,. On August 7, 2018, 21st Century Fox 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 21st Century Fox Digital Entertainment, was re-organized under Otter Media. Ellation will now house Rooster Teeth, Crunchyroll, and VRV, while Machinima became a unit of Fullscreen.
On December 23, 2018, video-sharing site YouTube was placed under Otter Media.
On March 4, 2019, following the reconstruction of 21st Century Fox Media and Publishing's businesses, Otter Media became part of Fox Entertainment Studios. However, on May 31, it was transferred to the FX Entertainment Networks Group division of FX Networks in order to oversee HBO Max.
External links[edit | edit source]
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