It's official: Comcast to buy DreamWorks

Comcast says it will pay $41 a share for DreamWorks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg's cartoon development company. The Philadelphia-based cable and media giant says the deal values DreamWorks at $3.8 billion.

The deal enables Comcast to add DreamWorks properties including Shrek (the green ogre), Madagascar (penguins), Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon, and DreamWorks' "classic characters" such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, to Comcast's Universal-brand video and theme-park franchises.

Comcast statement here. Bob Fernandez' story anticipating the deal here. DreamWorks sales and profits vary with sales of its new productions. DreamWorks posted losses in five of the past eight calendar quarters. The sale price is a fat premium to DreamWorks' stock-market value of around $17 to $27 a share earlier this year, but remains below its 2010 high of $44 a share.

In a recent statement to shareholders, DreamWorks reported 78.7 million shares outstanding, worth $3.23 billion at the sale price, plus $360 million in debt.

DreamWorks "created a dynamic film brand and a deep library of intellectual property," Comcast said in the statement. "DreamWorks will help us grow our film, television, theme parks and consumer products businesses for years to come." Katzenberg will be chairman of DreamWorks New Media.

According to Comcast, the deal "has been approved by the boards of directors of DreamWorks Animation and Comcast, and the controlling shareholder of DreamWorks Animation has approved the agreement by written consent." The deal should close by year's end.