👉 Background: Back in 2006, Skydance was started by the son of Larry Ellison, the founder of software giant Oracle. Skydance specialises in making films, animations, TV shows and video games.

👉 What happened: It's fair to say that Skydance is best known for movies that starred Tom Cruise (think: Mission Impossible and Jack Reacher).

👉 What else: But now, it has raised $400M USD, valuing the company at $4B USD, led by private equity giant KKR. It’s all part of a broader trend in the market that has opened up thanks to the wild growth of streaming.

What's the key learning?

💡Streaming has increased the demand for content, but also accelerated the money that is being made into the space. So naturally, private equity firms, seeking big financial returns, have started to pour big money into production houses.

💡 The streaming era has made content makers and their IP more valuable than ever because the IP can be monetised through film and TV, but also video games, toys and more.

💡And Skydance ain't the only ones. Over the last two years, a growing number of Hollywood studios have sold parts or all of their businesses:

• A24, the studio behind "Uncut Gems" and "Moonlight," raised $225 million USD
• Production companies led by Reese Witherspoon, LeBron James, and Will Smith have landed massive sales or investments

So, the more popular streaming becomes, the more valuable production companies will be.

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