Dick Clark sold for $175m

US indie Dick Clark Productions (DCPI), producer of televised events such as So You Think You Can Dance?, The American Music Awards and The Golden Globes, has changed hands for US$175m.

Private equity firm RedZone Capital – set up in 2004 by Dan Snyder and Dwight Schar, owners of the Washington Redskins – today announced the acquisition, with US theme park operator Six Flags taking a 40% equity interest in the company.

DCPI production jobs also include The Academy of Country Music Awards, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, plus 10,000 hours of live music performances, including nearly 900 hours of American Bandstand.

The move sees the departure of Allen Shapiro, who has stepped down as CEO of DCPI, to be replaced by former Washington Redskins chief marketing officer Terry Bateman. Snyder will become chairman of DCPI.

Mark Shapiro, president and CEO of Six Flags and former executive VP of programming and production at ESPN, also joins the new DCPI board, as does Dennis Greene, senior VP of the Washington Redskins.

Clark himself gave the new management his blessing: “Dan Snyder and his group will bring energy and new direction to a company that has meant so much to me. As we’ve talked I’ve come to learn just how passionate these people are about this business.”

Describing “the rare opportunity to acquire a powerhouse portfolio and grow it in new directions,” Snyder added that the company had engaged talent agency CAA to explore new creative and business opportunities for Dick Clark in the areas of TV, licensing, live events, sponsorships, and digital media.

“The Dick Clark Productions library has a wealth of largely untapped entertainment assets that will lay the foundation for exciting new properties and business opportunities,” said Emanuel Nunez, CAA partner.

The US$175m price tag represents a healthy mark-up for DCPI, which was founded in 1957, floated on the Nasdaq but was in 2002 taken private in a US$140m deal by a group of investors including Canada’s Capital Communications and Mosaic Media Group. In 2004, Mandalay Entertainment Group purchased Capital Communications’ interest in DCPI.