Latest in Blackstone Group

Snoop Dogg Buys Death Row Records Brand Just Days Before Super Bowl Halftime Showcase

Snoop Dogg has acquired the brand that launched him, Death Row Records. He did so just days before he and the label’s co-founder Dr. Dre will take the stage during the Super Bowl Halftime Show before an estimated audience of close to 100 million people. Snoop purchased the Death Row brand for an undisclosed sum from…

Business

Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith’s Westbrook Inc. Gets Minority Investment From Blackstone-Backed Firm Led By Kevin Mayer And Tom Staggs

An investment firm backed by Blackstone and run by onetime Disney colleagues Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs has taken a minority stake in Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Inc. The deal, confirmed to Deadline by a person familiar with the investment and later announced officially, followed discussions of a…

Business

Lego And Partners Buy Operator Of Legoland, Madame Tussauds For $6 Billion

Lego, the Denmark-based toy giant, is joining forces with Blackstone Group and a Canadian pension fund to acquire UK theme park operator Merlin Entertainment for $6 billion. The offer price from the Lego group is 60 cents a share for Merlin, which imputes a $6 billion valuation. Lego is a privately held company still…

Business

21st Century Fox & Blackstone Reportedly Teaming On Tribune Media Bid

Seeking to outdo Sinclair Broadcasting, the nation’s No. 1 owner of local TV stations, 21st Century Fox and private equity firm Blackstone Group are teaming to make a bid for Tribune Media, according to a report in the Financial Times. Citing two people familiar with the negotiations, the FT said Blackstone would…

Business

Nielsen CEO David Calhoun Lands At Private-Equity Giant Blackstone

David Calhoun did a lot of good turning around Nielsen‘s fortunes when he joined as CEO of the ratings company in 2006 after being a top lieutenant at Jack Welch’s GE. (In this town, that success did not trickle down to one of Nielsen’s holdings, trade mag The Hollywood Reporter, which continued to bleed money and…

Film

Comcast Agrees To Pay Blackstone $1B For 50% Of Universal Orlando

Executives at Universal Orlando can breathe a little easier this evening now that Comcast has agreed to pay The Blackstone Group $1.025 billion for its 50% stake in the theme park. The deal consolidating ownership at Comcast-controlled NBCUniversal means the park will be able to hang on to licensing agreements with…

Film

Private-equity Blackstone Group Wants Out of Universal Orlando

A holding company that oversees the theme parks said in a regulatory filing this week that the private-equity group has offered to sell its 50% stake in the Florida parks to NBC Universal, which owns the rest of the venture. Comcast-owned NBCU has until June 12 to make a call on that offer; after that, Blackstone can…