Embattled German media group EM.TV has hired Wall Street investment firm Allen & Co. to sell the Henson Co. The top candidates to buy the creator of Kermit are Walt Disney and the management of Henson itself. This action comes only a year after EM.TV purchased Henson from heirs of founder Jim Henson for US$680 million. Rumors have surfaced that the Henson heirs haven't nearly earned that amount due to the plummet of EM.TV's stock price. The current price tag will probably be half of the $680 million due to the recent sale of the SESAME STREET characters to Sesame Street Workshop for US$180 million in December 2000. The sale is also in response to Kirch Group's bail out of EM.TV earlier this year. Kirch has long disliked Hollywood productions. Allen & Co hopes to close the sale by year's end.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
