The acquisition of the Classic Media business is potentially transformative for Dreamworks Animation, which has mainly focused on originating its own franchises (such as Shrek, Madgascar and Kung Fu Panda) rather than reworking library properties. Jeffrey Katzenberg said DWA planned to leverage the Classic Media library across all of its 'channels', ranging from the theatrical business which still provides almost all of the studio's revenues to much less significant consumer products, theme parks and live entertainment businesses. Ellenbogen and Engelman, meanwhile, said the combination would 'expand the opportunities for us and for our content and distribution partners'.

Purchases in the children's business are typically based more on intellectual property than the operations of the target company, but these comments suggest there is more to the Classic Media acquisition. DWA will also acquire a business which is mainly based on producing and licensing children's content for the international TV market. The combination will at a stroke increase the scale of this activity within DWA as well as, of course, unlocking new revenue streams for the DWA back catalogue. 

While the international market for children's content is an intensely competitive and tough one - as shown by the difficulties of Entertainment Rights, for one - a flow of revenue from licensing will also help to diversify DWA's business, which is heavily dependent on the often volatile theatrical market. That Classic Media will also be 'earnings-accretive' in its first year is another benefit of the deal for the Nasdaq-listed DWA.