The TinyTiger Company

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## The TinyTiger Company

### Industry

Mass media
Entertainment

### Headquarters

TinyTiger Studios, Burbank, California, United States

### Key people

Cooper Brandis (owner)
Freddie Smith (CEO)

### Products

Television, publishing, films, music, video games, amusement parks, streaming, broadcasting, radio, web portals

### Divisions

The TinyTiger Studios
TinyTiger Media Network
TinyTiger Parks, Experiences and Products
TinyTiger Direct-to-Consumer & International

### Subsidiaries

DC Entertainment
IMDb (73%)

**The TinyTiger Company** is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the TinyTiger Studios complex in Burbank, California.

**The TinyTiger Company** was originally founded on July 14, 2008, by Cooper Brandis. The company established itself as a leader in the online streaming industry before diversifying into film production, television, and video games.

Since 2013, the company has created and acquired corporate divisions in order to market more mature content than is typically associated with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is known for its film studio division, TinyTiger Studios, which includes HOOT Studios, HOOT Animation Studios, the Warner Animation Group, DC Films, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, and Castle Rock Entertainment. Their other main business units include divisions in television, broadcasting, streaming media, theme park resorts, consumer products, publishing, and international operations. Through these various segments, the company owns and operates the NBC broadcast network; cable channels such as HBO, Cinemax, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang and Turner Classic Movies; publishing, merchandising, music, and theater divisions; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Spotify, HOOT, Peacock, and HBO Max; and TinyTiger Parks, Experiences and Products, a group of 13 theme parks, resort hotels, and cruise lines around the world.

## Corporate history

### 2013-2015: Founding and HOOT's release

In June 2013, Los Angeles, California, Cooper Brandis founded the TinyTiger Company and bought out Titan Entertainment, which he was executive chairman at the time, two months later. Brandis would later take on the role of executive chairman and briefly chief creative officer for the company, and Freddie Smith would become the company's chief executive officer.

In October 2013, the company announced that it would launch a subscription video-on-demand service, titled the Home of Original Television, that would also feature newly produced in-house entertainment content. As of January 2020, HOOT has over 182 million subscriptions paid worldwide, including 73 million in the United States, and over 204 million subscriptions total including free trials.

### 2015-present: Freddie Smith's leadership and company expansion

On August 31, 2015, the company announced a deal with Amazon to acquire seventy-three percent of IMDb for 338 million, in a deal completed on September 28, 2015. On October 30, 2015, the company announced plans to acquire Spotify, in a deal valued at $3.05 billion that would be completed in December. The company announced an intent to leverage the music platform across its entertainment divisions, and planned to produce a monthly podcast that would later release in 2016.

In February 2018, the company considered purchasing the American online video-sharing platform service YouTube from Google, but they scrapped the idea due to the immense criticism.

On July 23, 2018, it was announced that the company would purchase NBC Universal from Comcast in an all-stock transactions valued at $40 billion. The deal was finalized on November 5; Steve Bourke, who was NBCUniversal's CEO, transitioned to the company's board of directors as its largest individual shareholder, with a 7% stake. Former vice chairman of NBCUniversal, Ronald Meyer, became chief operating officer of the company. Later, in December 2018, Freddie Smith stated in a conference call that after the success of the NBCUniversal and IMDb purchases, he and The TinyTiger Company are looking to "buy either new characters or businesses that are capable of creating great character and great stories."

After it was announced that AT&T had been in negotiations to acquire Time Warner, rumors of a TinyTiger Company counter-deal continued into December of 2017. The following June, the counter offer from the TinyTiger Company was announced to be worth $80 billion, and AT&T increased its offer to $84.5 billion with the TinyTiger Company following and increasing to $90 billion. The transaction officially closed on February 20, 2019. It was also announced that the Time Warner brand would be dropped and its name would be changed to WarnerMedia.

In January 2019, the company acquired numerous television and movie rights from 21st Century Fox as a part of Disney's acquisition of Fox. Beginning in March 2019, a strategic reorganization the company saw the creation of two business segments, the TinyTiger Parks, Experiences and Products along with the Direct-to-Consumer & International. Parks, Experiences and Products was primarily a merger of Universal Parks & Resorts, Village Roadshows Theme Parks, TinyTigerProductions, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. While Direct-to-Consumer & International took over for TinyTigerInternational and global sales, distribution and streaming units plus the TinyTiger Digital Network. Given that CEO Smith described it as "strategically positioning our businesses for the future", *The New York Times* considered the reorganization done in expectation of the Time Warner purchase.

In April 2020, Smith resumed operational duties of the company to help the company through the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic. The company also announced that it will suspend pay to more than 100,00 employees at TinyTiger Parks, Experiences and Products in response to the Coronavirus recession—reportedly amounting to monthly savings of $500 million for the company—while continuing to provide full healthcare benefits. Reportedly, staff in the United States and France were affected and were encouraged to apply for government support.

## Company units

The TinyTiger Company operates four primary business segments; two primary divisions and three content groups:

* **TinyTiger Direct-to-Consumer & International** is responsible for all global distribution, operations, sales, advertising, data and technology functions for the company's three content production groups (listed below), as well as management of the company’s direct-to-consumer businesses, including its multiple streaming services (Spotify, HOOT, and Peacock), theatrical exhibition unit, home media distribution, HOOT Music Group, domestic television networks, and international holdings. The division is led by Daniel Keller. The international operations is headed by Ellison Lewis, who reports to Freddie Smith.

* **TinyTiger Parks, Experiences and Products** includes the company's theme parks, cruise line, travel-related assets, consumer products, and publishing divisions. Disney's resorts and diversified related holdings include: Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Singapore, Warner Bros. Movie World, Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas, Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast, and Wet‘n’Wild Haikou. The division is led by Seth Douglas.

### Content Groups

* **TinyTiger Studios** consists of the company's filmed entertainment and theatrical entertainment businesses, including HOOT Studios, HOOT Animation Studios, the Warner Animation Group, DC Films, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment, and TinyTiger Theatrical Group. The division is led by Donna Langley and Ann Sarnoff.

* **TinyTiger Digital Network** consists of the company's entertainment-centric television channels and production companies in the United States, including TinyTiger Television (consisting of the NBC television network, TinyTiger Television Studios, NBC Owned Television Stations, HBO, Cinemax, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang and Turner Classic Movies), TinyTiger Branded Television, and NBC News. It also focuses on NBC's live sports programming, as well as sports news and original and non-scripted sports-related content, for the cable channels. The division is led by Mark Lazarus and Deborah Turness.

In addition, DC Entertainment is also a direct CEO reporting business, while its financial results are primarily divided between the Studios and Consumer Products segments.