Peanuts brand sold to Teletubbies owner DHX Media

Don't call this deal a blockhead move.

Children's programming firm and Teletubbies owner DHX Media said Wednesday that it had acquired a controlling stake in the Peanuts brand and other assets through a purchase of Iconix Brand Group's entertainment unit.

DHX said it had agreed to pay $345 million for the assets, which included an 80% stake in legendary cartoonist Charles Schulz's Peanuts and 100% of the Strawberry Shortcake brand.

Family of the late Schulz will continue to hold a 20% stake in the Peanuts brand, whose characters include Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy.

Jean Schulz, the comic strip creator's widow, and son Craig Schulz endorsed the deal.

Among the assets DHX Media gets through the transaction are more than 340 half-hour segments of content. The company said it had identified opportunities to "mine an underexploited library for global distribution and expansion into new territories and channels," including YouTube.

“Over the past 10 years, DHX Media has become a global leader in children’s entertainment content, building scale across production, distribution and consumer products and is perfectly positioned to benefit from the incredible growth of streaming services, worldwide,” DHX CEO Dana Landry said in a statement.

"Peanuts and Strawberry Shortcake have widespread, evergreen appeal that make them ideal for layering onto this platform, complementing our 450-title library, and significantly increasing our scale in consumer products."

Follow Paste BN reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.