This week’s guest is Eric Ellenbogen, the CEO and Vice Chairman of WildBrain. WildBrain is a 500 million Canadian dollar market cap entertainment company listed on the TSX in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Content Business, and Canadian Television Broadcasting, and through those segments develops, produces, and distributes films and television programs worldwide. WildBrain’s intellectual property includes well-known characters such as Snoopy, Strawberry Shortcake, and Inspector Gadget.

Eric became CEO during the summer of 2019, after being the Co-President of Classic Media at DreamWorks and having served as the CEO of Marvel before it was acquired by Disney. Given Eric’s vast experience in the media content production industry, I was very much looking forward to talking to Eric about:

• WildBrain’s preferred business model, especially as it relates to holding onto IP versus simply selling shows to third parties;
• The opportunities for growth in the company’s Peanuts franchise;
• What he has learned by watching Disney expand the Marvel franchise that he can replicate at WildBrain;
• The strategy behind taking a hit show or popular character and turning those into consumer products revenue; and
• His thoughts on the high valuations studios have been receiving in recent deals.

*For full disclosure, Cove Street is not a WildBrain shareholder.

Please enjoy the interview at the following sites:

YouTube: https://youtu.be/rfH6P9Y_F7Q
Podbean: https://compounders.podbean.com/e/monetizing-intellectual-property-with-eric-ellenbogen-chief-executive-officer-and-vice-chair-of-wildbrain-ltd-tsx-wild/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1wFaDLyqcZVJOcHnmxxjoB
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/monetizing-a-library-of-intellectual-property/id1579124518?i=1000552550166

As always, if you have any comments, feedback, or guest recommendations, please contact us at podcast@covestreetcapital.com. You can also follow the podcast on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/CompoundersPod.

If you missed our last Compounders episode with Viasat’s Executive Chairman, Mark Dankberg, you can view it here.

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