Then Rivkin reported back to the Henson family, and they started thinking it over. When Jim Henson passed away in 1990 at the age of 53, he was looking for more financial muscle and negotiating with Disney, which wanted to aquire the Muppets. After Henson’s death, his children survived a brutal legal fight with Disney for control of Miss Piggy & Co. The Hensons kept the family firm intact and profitable, but by last summer, their signature “Muppet Show” was no longer in production, and it was always a struggle to find money for new ventures. After Haffa planted the idea of a partnership, Henson’s son Brian, the company CEO, began talking to potential suitors. In the end, the Hensons decided it would be best to sell outright to another family firm crazy about Muppets, and they went back to EM.TV, which Haffa founded in 1989. Last week Miss Piggy and Kermit were smuggled into a Munich press conference to make the surprise announcement that EM.TV will pay $680 million in cash and stock for a 100 percent takeover of the Muppet creators. “In terms of what’s best for the characters that we are so emotional about, we decided 100 percent ownership is best,” says Brian Henson, who will stay on as chairman, with Rivkin as his CEO.
It was a friendly coup for the Haffas. As the Cookie Monster might put it, A is for ambition, and it is the Haffas’ ambition to transform Junior, his TV brand name, into a global rival to Disney. Thomas Haffa, 47, has made no secret of his dream to be a mogul on par with Rupert Murdoch, and he already has the toys: a Harley, a Porsche and a corporate jet. By buying the Henson company, he gets a cast of characters world famous from “The Muppet Show” and “Sesame Street,” which broadcasts to more than 120 million kids in 140 countries. He also gets Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, a cutting-edge special-effects studio that made the animals talk in films like “Babe” and “101 Dalmatians,” and Henson stakes in cable-TV channels. The TV ventures include the Odyssey Channel in the United States and the Kermit Channel in Asia, giving Haffa a base from which to expand beyond Europe and into the giant U.S. market. “It’s a bold move, but in my opinion justified,” says Haim Saban, CEO of Fox Kids Worldwide, the cable network owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. “He got in through the front door.”
After their initial doubts, the Hensons opened the door willingly. They are a small enclave of artists, long on talent but perpetually short of capital. Until two years ago they didn’t even have a marketing department, which is a specialty of Haffa and his younger brother, Florian, the chief financial officer. The Junior brand is a big success. And thanks to a high-flying listing on the Neuer Markt, Germany’s exchange for small, high-growth companies, EM.TV also has money. Market capitalization is approaching $20 billion. Before Henson, Merrill Lynch expected EM.TV’s profits to more than triple in 2000 to $128 million, on a doubling of sales to $325 million–a whopping 39 percent profit margin. So Haffa can build the Jim Henson brand, freeing the Hensons to just be creative. “It’s a perfect match,” says Oliver Rupprecht, media analyst with M. M. Warburg in Hamburg. “Henson is a dust-covered diamond.”
Haffa quickly started polishing. On the plane from New York to Munich to announce the deal last week, Henson says, an adrenaline-pumped Haffa peppered him with ways to accelerate a planned revival of “The Muppet Show” series, which has been in reruns for several years. “It has megapotential,” Haffa says. Convinced that kids are more into music than they were 10 to 15 years ago, he’d like to see 26 “Muppet Shows” per year. One idea he’s pursuing: talks about partnerships with music companies that may want to feature their artists in the series.
Haffa and the Hensons have even more ambitious plans for the Internet. By midsummer they will launch a browser that is especially designed for children. Relying heavily on the digital technology of Henson’s Creature Shop, it will help pint-size Netizens to buy products, watch films, access information and send e-mail. “We want to create a home for kids on the Internet,” says Haffa. They are still deciding whether to use the Junior brand along with Jim Henson, and are talking to possible partners.
So the courter may become the courted. “Haffa is now the biggest pure-content play in Europe,” says Merrill Lynch media analyst Bernard Tubeileh, who says he wouldn’t be surprised if AOL Europe, Microsoft or Deutsche Telekom ends up buying EM.TV. “We are open to all ideas,” responds Haffa. Even if it meant giving up his family’s slim majority? “Look at Murdoch; he controls his company without owning it,” says Haffa. “The lesson of the AOL-Time Warner merger is that you have to be open and watchful, and not small-minded, because there are all kinds of possibilities out there.” Now that he has broken into the U.S. market, “he is definitely on the way to being a major media baron,” says Fox’s Saban, who has known the Haffa brothers for 25 years. Thanks to EM.TV the world is going to see a lot more of Miss Piggy and the Muppets. And it hasn’t heard the last from Haffa, either.
title: “Just Call Him Grosser Vogel” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “Ethel Rosa”
Then Rivkin reported back to the Henson family, and they started thinking it over. When Jim Henson passed away in 1990 at the age of 53, he was looking for more financial muscle and negotiating with Disney, which wanted to aquire the Muppets. After Henson’s death, his children survived a brutal legal fight with Disney for control of Miss Piggy & Co. The Hensons kept the family firm intact and profitable, but by last summer, their signature “Muppet Show” was no longer in production, and it was always a struggle to find money for new ventures. After Haffa planted the idea of a partnership, Henson’s son Brian, the company CEO, began talking to potential suitors. In the end, the Hensons decided it would be best to sell outright to another family firm crazy about Muppets, and they went back to EM.TV, which Haffa founded in 1989. Last week Miss Piggy and Kermit were smuggled into a Munich press conference to make the surprise announcement that EM.TV will pay $680 million in cash and stock for a 100 percent takeover of the Muppet creators. “In terms of what’s best for the characters that we are so emotional about, we decided 100 percent ownership is best,” says Brian Henson, who will stay on as chairman, with Rivkin as his CEO.
It was a friendly coup for the Haffas. As the Cookie Monster might put it, A is for ambition, and it is the Haffas’ ambition to transform Junior, his TV brand name, into a global rival to Disney. Thomas Haffa, 47, has made no secret of his dream to be a mogul on par with Rupert Murdoch, and he already has the toys: a Harley, a Porsche and a corporate jet. By buying the Henson company, he gets a cast of characters world famous from “The Muppet Show” and “Sesame Street,” which broadcasts to more than 120 million kids in 140 countries. He also gets Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, a cutting-edge special-effects studio that made the animals talk in films like “Babe” and “101 Dalmatians,” and Henson stakes in cable-TV channels. The TV ventures include the Odyssey Channel in the United States and the Kermit Channel in Asia, giving Haffa a base from which to expand beyond Europe and into the giant U.S. market. “It’s a bold move, but in my opinion justified,” says Haim Saban, CEO of Fox Kids Worldwide, the cable network owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. “He got in through the front door.”
After their initial doubts, the Hensons opened the door willingly. They are a small enclave of artists, long on talent but perpetually short of capital. Until two years ago they didn’t even have a marketing department, which is a specialty of Haffa and his younger brother, Florian, the chief financial officer. The Junior brand is a big success. And thanks to a high-flying listing on the Neuer Markt, Germany’s exchange for small, high-growth companies, EM.TV also has money. Market capitalization is approaching $20 billion. Before Henson, Merrill Lynch expected EM.TV’s profits to more than triple in 2000 to $128 million, on a doubling of sales to $325 million–a whopping 39 percent profit margin. So Haffa can build the Jim Henson brand, freeing the Hensons to just be creative. “It’s a perfect match,” says Oliver Rupprecht, media analyst with M. M. Warburg in Hamburg. “Henson is a dust-covered diamond.”
Haffa quickly started polishing. On the plane from New York to Munich to announce the deal last week, Henson says, an adrenaline-pumped Haffa peppered him with ways to accelerate a planned revival of “The Muppet Show” series, which has been in reruns for several years. “It has megapotential,” Haffa says. Convinced that kids are more into music than they were 10 to 15 years ago, he’d like to see 26 “Muppet Shows” per year. One idea he’s pursuing: talks about partnerships with music companies that may want to feature their artists in the series.
Haffa and the Hensons have even more ambitious plans for the Internet. By midsummer they will launch a browser that is especially designed for children. Relying heavily on the digital technology of Henson’s Creature Shop, it will help pint-size Netizens to buy products, watch films, access information and send e-mail. “We want to create a home for kids on the Internet,” says Haffa. They are still deciding whether to use the Junior brand along with Jim Henson, and are talking to possible partners.
So the courter may become the courted. “Haffa is now the biggest pure-content play in Europe,” says Merrill Lynch media analyst Bernard Tubeileh, who says he wouldn’t be surprised if AOL Europe, Microsoft or Deutsche Telekom ends up buying EM.TV. “We are open to all ideas,” responds Haffa. Even if it meant giving up his family’s slim majority? “Look at Murdoch; he controls his company without owning it,” says Haffa. “The lesson of the AOL-Time Warner merger is that you have to be open and watchful, and not small-minded, because there are all kinds of possibilities out there.” Now that he has broken into the U.S. market, “he is definitely on the way to being a major media baron,” says Fox’s Saban, who has known the Haffa brothers for 25 years. Thanks to EM.TV the world is going to see a lot more of Miss Piggy and the Muppets. And it hasn’t heard the last from Haffa, either.
