WildBrain Sells 41% Peanuts Stake to Sony for $630 Million

WildBrain has signed a definitive agreement to sell its 41% stake in Peanuts Holdings to Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) and Sony Pictures Entertainment (together 'Sony') for $630 million. The transaction allows the Toronto-based family entertainment company to eliminate all debt and creates over $40 million in cash surplus for reinvestment. 

The deal involves the holding entity for the Peanuts intellectual property, with ownership rights and business management handled by Peanuts Worldwide, a wholly owned subsidiary of Peanuts Holdings. The family of Charles M. Schulz, creator of Peanuts, retains their 20% stake in the brand. The transaction requires regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. 

Net proceeds will fully repay WildBrain's Senior Secured Credit Facility, including all fees. The company plans to use the surplus funds, annual interest savings and additional balance sheet capacity to invest in wholly owned franchises including "Strawberry Shortcake" and "Teletubbies," expand its premium digital content network and advertising footprint across YouTube, FAST and AVOD platforms and invest in emerging technologies. 

WildBrain will continue as a multi-year partner to Peanuts, serving as exclusive licensing agent through WildBrain CPLG for consumer products across Europe, the Middle East, China and Asia Pacific (excluding Japan and ANZ). The company also remains the exclusive production studio for new Peanuts content, including a previously announced feature film under an expanded partnership with Apple TV recently renewed through 2030. WildBrain will continue distributing its Peanuts content and managing the Snoopy YouTube channel. 

"Over the past several years, we've successfully executed a strategy to drive growth for our own and partner entertainment properties, harnessing our capabilities across franchise management and consumer products licensing, content distribution on our premium digital network, and production at our studio," says Josh Scherba, president and chief executive officer, WildBrain. "The strength of this platform has been proven by the growth in revenue we've driven for Peanuts, achieving a record high for the brand in fiscal 2025. Selling our stake in Peanuts crystallizes the brand's value, eliminating our debt and providing capital flexibility to reinvest in high-growth, high-margin opportunities, especially for IP that we own outright, such as 'Strawberry Shortcake,' 'Teletubbies' and others in our deep portfolio, such as 'Degrassi,' 'Inspector Gadget' and more." 

"Sony has been an excellent partner on the Peanuts brand for many years, and we're confident that Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang are in good hands," continues Scherba. "Since we originally acquired the brand in 2017, we have materially grown its audience through an expansive partnership with Apple TV for new content, including a new feature film currently in production, and also through growing a robust licensing program across Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. We'd like to thank Tim Erickson and the Peanuts Worldwide team, as well as the Schulz family, for their incredible collaboration on these endeavors. We look forward to working with them and the Sony team as valued partners to continue driving global growth for Peanuts in the years to come." 

WildBrain originally acquired 80% of Peanuts and 100% of Strawberry Shortcake for $448 million in 2017. The company sold 39% of Peanuts to Sony in 2018 for $236 million. Total sale proceeds and distributions to WildBrain from owning Peanuts exceed $1 billion. 

EBITDA directly attributable to WildBrain's 41% ownership stake in Peanuts was $27 million in fiscal 2025. Including consolidation benefits, WildBrain's recognized EBITDA for its 41% ownership stake in Peanuts was $43 million in fiscal 2025. Interest savings alone exceed double the free cash flow WildBrain earned from its Peanuts stake over the last 12 months. 

The transaction provides WildBrain with capacity under an optimized capital structure to invest approximately $50 million to $100 million in growth opportunities. With a clean balance sheet, the company's capital allocation priorities focus on scaling wholly owned franchises, expanding its premium digital content network and advertising footprint, investing in emerging technologies and evaluating share buybacks and acquisitions. 

"This transaction marks a pivotal moment for WildBrain as we look to the future," says Nick Gawne, chief financial officer, WildBrain. "By deleveraging, we can now redeploy cash flows from debt service into strategic investments that not only accelerate growth in our franchises and premium digital content network but also allow us to invest in technologies to streamline operations and drive margin expansion. We remain highly confident in the growth potential of our core business, and by improving our capital structure, this transaction enables us to better demonstrate the strong cash-generation characteristics embedded in our business model."