On Wednesday, June 21, 2000, Italian animation studio Mondo TV, owner of the country's largest library of domestic and imported TV cartoons, will go public on the Milan stock exchange. Currently, the Rome-based company is owned by Orlando and Matteo Corradi. For the first-quarter, the TV toon maker saw revenue of 6.5 billion Italian lira (US$3.25 million) and net earnings of 1.3 billion ($650,000). Mondo TV holds rights to self-produced TV animation including the SUPER LITTLE FANTA HEROES and THE GREAT BOOK OF NATURE series and holds the rights to roughly 5,000 episodes of various Japanese anime shows. The Italian firm has gained a notorious name for producing cartoons that just skip infringing on Disney copyrights, like their POCAHONTAS, THE LEGEND OF ZORRO and SIMBA, THE KING LION series.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
