Entertainment One

**Entertainment One** is a production company which co-produced ABC's *The Rookie*, with ABC Signature.

## History

eOne began operations in 1973 in Ontario, Canada, as Records on Wheels (ROW) Limited, founded and operated by Vito Ierullo and Don Ierullo, focusing on retail sales of recorded music. In the late 1970s, ROW began to distribute recorded music for third-party retailers in Canada. For more than 20 years, entertainment content distribution became the company’s primary focus as the company expanded into video, purchasing one of Canada’s largest home entertainment distributors, Video One Canada, Ltd., from its then-parent, Standard Broadcasting Corporation. In November 2003, the company was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ROW Entertainment Income Fund.

In June 2005, ROW Entertainment Income Fund acquired the American independent music distributor and home entertainment publisher Koch Entertainment. In 2007, the company, now known as the Entertainment One Income Fund, accepted a $188 million public equity takeover by Marwyn Investment Management to fund its expansion; the company was listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market as Entertainment One Ltd. In 2007, Entertainment One acquired Montreal-based film distributor Seville Pictures and UK distributor Contender Entertainment Group. The same year, the company secured its first film output agreement with Summit Entertainment, handling distribution in Canada and the United Kingdom. Acquisitions continued in 2008 with the purchase of the Benelux distributor RCV Entertainment. The same year, eOne acquired the television studios Blueprint and Barna-Alper, and international television distributor Oasis International.

On January 5, 2015, eOne acquired a 51% stake in The Mark Gordon Co.; Gordon was named CEO of the studio, which planned to produce and finance future film and television projects by Gordon and others in an effort by eOne to increase its prominence in the United States. eOne will have an option to acquire the remainder of the studio beginning in 2022. On September 9, 2015, eOne revived the Momentum Pictures brand (which was previously used by Alliance UK) and announced that it had entered into a multi-picture deal with Orion Pictures to jointly acquire films for "specialized theatrical releases" in the U.S., and targeted international releases, focusing on ancillary and digital distribution.

Marwyn Investment Management sold its majority stake in Entertainment One to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) on September 16, 2015.

On December 16, 2015, eOne, Steven Spielberg, Reliance Entertainment, and Participant Media officially announced a joint venture known as Amblin Partners. eOne serves as an investor, while the majority of its films will be distributed by Universal Pictures.

On January 7, 2016, eOne made a strategic investment in Sierra Pictures and on January 20, 2016, the company acquired Dualtone Music Group. On March 8, 2016, eOne acquired music recording, publishing and artist management company Last Gang, and announced Chris Taylor would join the company in the new role of President, Entertainment One Music. On March 24, 2016, eOne acquired a 65% interest in David Garfinkle and Jay Renfroe’s unscripted production company Renegade 83.

On January 29, 2018, eOne acquired the remaining 49% in The Mark Gordon Company, with Gordon become the President and Chief Content Officer of Film, Television and Digital.

In 2018, Entertainment One started co-producing the series *The Rookie* for ABC.

## External links

* Official Website
* Entertainment One on Official Facebook