Italy’s Mondo TV Group has acquired a 30.3% stake in German media company IGEL MEDIA AG. The agreement is contingent upon the approval of IGEL MEDIA AG’s supervisory board. Under the terms of the deal, Mondo will receive 1,000,000 shares of IGEL. In addition to Mondo TV’s acquisition, a commercial agreement has been signed between the two companies in which IGEL will take over Mondo’s European distribution of over 300 hours of animated productions including JESUS, THE KINGDOM WITHOUT FRONTIERS, THE SUPER HEROES and LUPO ALBERTO for all territories except Italy.

Film Roman announced on Friday, April 6, 2001, that their board of directors has rejected last minute changes to the previously announced Pentamedia stock purchase agreement, and extended the deal close date to April 13 pending continuing discussions between the two companies. Under the terms of the existing agreement, Pentamedia was set to acquire a fully-diluted 60% stake of Film Roman in the form of newly issued common stock for $15 million in cash.

Spanish animation company BRB Internacional announced at MIP TV a new major financing deal, which will help them expand their operations. Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento (BESI), an Iberian bank, has acquired 25% of BRB International. BESI is a major player in Portugal and Brazil, and part of the NYSE listed Espirito Santo Group (NYSE:ESF). The move enables BRB Internacional to consolidate and increase its position in the international audio-visual market.

Brilliant Digital Entertainment Inc., a developer of 3D rich media content creation, distribution and ad services technologies for the Internet, announced continued losses for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2000. The company reported a net loss from continuing operations of $9,208,000, or $0.62 per share, for the year ended Dec. 31, 2000, compared with a net loss from continuing operations of $9,108,000, or $0.81 per share for 1999. Net revenues for 2000 from continuing operations rose 86% to $1,030,000 from $555,000 in fiscal 1999.

AOL Time Warner and Oxygen Media announced April 3, that they will expand their existing online strategic alliance to include extensive cable distribution of Oxygen TV to the vast majority of Time Warner Cable households. America Online will also make an equity investment in Oxygen. As part of the multi-year agreement, Oxygen TV programming will be available to 10 million cable subscribers by third quarter, 2002. Time Warner Cable is the nation's second-largest cable operator.

Softimage announced on Thursday, March 29, that it is restructuring its business operations, resulting in the loss of 47 jobs worldwide, 37 of which are coming from the company’s Montreal headquarters. Laid off employees will receive a severance package. Despite the cutbacks, more than 200 people will continue to be employed at the Montreal facility.

San Francisco, California-based Mondo Media, a leading online animation and syndication company, cut 28 of its 110 employees on Monday, March 26. The cuts affected all areas of the company. According to Robin Harper, senior VP of marketing, the layoffs do not signal fiscal trouble. “There is no financial crisis at the company. We recently raised $17 million, and this layoff is a proactive move to ensure the longevity of the company through the current economic downturn,” she said.

Munich’s TV-Loonland AG has beaten their fiscal year 2000 business forecasts, posting significant gains in revenue and earnings. Figures released by the company show revenue at DM 145.1 million, a tenfold increase over last year. Earnings, forecast at DM 11.5 million, rose to DM 16.1 million. Net earnings per share rose to EUR 1.26. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) improved to DM 21.4 million, while earnings before interest, tax and depreciations (EBITDA) improved to DM 40.6 million. The company states they have liquid reserves of about DM 65 million.

Zeros & Ones, Inc., a Santa Monica-based holding company with operations in content, technology and production, has launched Zeros & Ones Studios. The new studio will focus on cutting-edge digital animation production that will maximize the potential of Flash and other 2-D tools in the creation of media that plays across all platforms. Newly appointed VP-Managing Director Tim Rummel, has put together a team headed by Michael Adamo, co-founder of New York-based AMPnyc Animation.

AWN's stock ticker features the most prominent publicly traded companies in the world of animation. AWN,
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Nickelodeon has laid off 30 staffers as a streamlining measure. Most came from Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida. Nick spokesmen Dan Martinsen said, the East Coast branch is moving toward a "show-to-show production model." A source said that this move is due to the economy slow down and that no other lay offs are likely. Other Viacom divisions MTV, VH1 and TNN were not affected by the cost-cutting move.

Rainbow Studios has opened a new office in Phoenix and a new satellite office in San Francisco. "At a time where many studios are downsizing or restructuring to remain competitive, Rainbow Studios is experiencing tremendous growth in all aspects of our business -- from digital cinema to game development," said Scott Novis, vice president of engineering at Rainbow Studios.

Berlin-based Greenlight Media and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein are about to launch the second Berlin Animation Film fund (BAF) to raise US$100 million for the production of up to five international animation features. Greenlight's COO Nickolaus Weil said that BAF II will fund two $30 million-budgeted features from U.S. studios and three $10 million-budgeted features from European-based companies. The studios working on the films have not yet been announced. However, Greenlight president Andre Sikojev said, "The U.S. partners with whom we are preparing the U.S.

AWN's stock ticker features the most prominent publicly traded companies in the world of animation. AWN, Inc. makes available certain financial information from third party information providers. AWN does not give advice in any such fields, and has not reviewed, and in no way endorses the validity of such data. This information is provided solely as a means to keep our readers informed of the market performance and trends of certain companies. AWN strongly suggests that one seek advice from a competent professional regarding any investment or financial issues.

The newly renamed AtomFilms and Shockwave combined company, AtomShockwave Corp., has announced the closing of its latest round of financing of US$22.9 million. Leading the round was Macromedia, parent company of Shockwave, along with Sequoia Capital, JPMorgan Entertainment Partners, Arts Alliance, Waterview Partners and affiliates and Intel Capital. The new company plans to retain its two distinct brands, AtomFilms and shockwave.com, as well as strengthening its offices in Tokyo and London.

Madrid production house Filmax has formed a new animation arm entitled Filmax Animacion. The new arm will have three divisions: production services, production and distribution. Filmax plans to integrate its animation studio Bren Entertainment into this new venture. In October 2000, Filmax gained animation production-distribution house PPM Multimedia's Francisco "Paco" Rodriguez to head Bren. Rodriguez formed PPM Multimedia in 1990 and quickly transformed the small company into a major force in the Spanish market.

Former Walt Disney senior VP for worldwide anti-piracy, Judy Denenholz, has filed a US$20 million lawsuit, alleging she was terminated after refusing to sign a fraudulent IRS audit. The suit also alleges that Disney's assistant general counsel Peter Nolan sexually harassed Denenholz since she joined the company in 1981. The suit claims that Disney's general counsel Lou Meisinger held a grudge over legal bills before he became Disney's general counsel. In 1990, Denenholz advised Disney that Meisinger's law firm was overcharging the studio for their anti-piracy work.

AWN's stock ticker features the most prominent publicly traded companies in the world of animation. AWN, Inc. makes available certain financial information from third party information providers. AWN does not give advice in any such fields, and has not reviewed, and in no way endorses the validity of such data. This information is provided solely as a means to keep our readers informed of the market performance and trends of certain companies. AWN strongly suggests that one seek advice from a competent professional regarding any investment or financial issues.

Walt Disney Co. has announced that its past decision to scrap its Go.com portal has been reversed. However, the Go.com portal will be a much more pared down version with Web searches handled by former rival GoTo.com. The Go.com home page now serves as a low maintenance starting point for the Walt Disney Internet Group's other sites like Disney.com, ABC.com and Movies.com. In the formation of Go.com, Disney purchased Infoseek and their search engine. Currently, Disney is looking to sell off assets associated with Infoseek.

Many citizens in the Czech Republic are aghast over the premiere of POKEMON on the public TV network, Slovak TV. The Slovak media council has complained that the show has a negative psychological effect on children due to its level of violence. Because the station is a public broadcaster, the council has the right to ban the program. If done, this move could destroy Slovak TV. The station is currently in dire financial straits, owing over a million dollars to various companies for purchases made over the past three years.