Softbank In Talks To Buy DreamWorks Animation SKG For $3.4 Bln

(RTTNews) - Japanese telecom company Softbank Corp. (SFTBF.PK) is in talks to acquire Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (DWA), according to several reports, citing people familiar with matter.

Softbank has made a $3.4 billion offer that values DreamWorks Animation shares at $32 per share, the reports said citing the Hollywood Reporter. The board of DreamWorks Animation held an emergency meeting last week to weigh the bid.

The deal would give the Japanese group control of Hollywood's largest independent animation studio.

Katzenberg, founded DreamWorks SKG with David Geffen and Steven Spielberg two decades ago, and split the animation unit as a separate, public company in 2004. Geffen and Spielberg, who runs the separate live-action DreamWorks Studios, are investors in DreamWorks Animation.