8.15 billion, Snoopy has been sold

Dogs are man's best friend, so much so that every generation has its own dog meme.

People born in the 70s and 80s love Shiba Inu DOGE, while those born in the 90s and 00s prefer line-drawing puppies. The most popular character in the classic American cartoon "Family Guy," which premiered in 1999, is a Labrador named Brian. The show "Rick and Morty," which started in 2013, borrowed heavily from this, designing a character named "Snowball" for the protagonist Morty. Nowadays, every internet surfer has developed the habit of jokingly saying "doge head protection." The top otaku, Elon Musk, has even made DOGE part of his personal brand, launching a virtual currency called "DOGE," and a department formed under the Trump administration is also called "DOGE."

If we were to select the most classic dog IP among all the celebrity dogs, it would probably be Snoopy. Snoopy is considered classic not only because it was born in 1950 and has been popular for over 70 years, spanning several generations of aesthetics. More importantly, Snoopy established the "standard template" for dogs in animation: there is no concept of "pet" and "owner"; they interact with humans like true friends, thinking, living, and understanding the world like humans do. The previously mentioned Brian and Snowball subtly carry the shadow of Snoopy.

Recently, Snoopy has also embarked on a new journey: Recently, Sony announced a $475 million (approximately RMB 3.35 billion) investment in Snoopy's parent company, Peanuts Holdings LLC, making it a subsidiary of the group, with the shareholding ratio reaching 80% after the transaction is completed. Previously, Sony first completed its investment in Peanuts Holdings in 2018, acquiring 39% of the shares—based on this calculation, Peanuts Holdings is currently valued at $1.16 billion (approximately RMB 8.15 billion).

The Most Famous, Most Superficial, Most Profitable

Like Disney's creation of Mickey Mouse, the birth story of Snoopy has been highly totemized today. Charles Schulz drew Charlie Brown and Snoopy by hand for fifty years, only putting down his pen three months before his death. He candidly shared that his creative inspiration came from "curiosity," as he could not understand "why dogs always tolerate children's strange behavior." He also generously shared his methodology: "Keep a relaxed and happy mood, and draw things that you find interesting."

He was not as composed and calm as the stereotypical masters; even in old age, he remained immersed in excitement: "When a composer has a burst of inspiration, the flow of music far exceeds his ability to conceive. I am the same. When I have a good idea, I can't wait to write it down. I fear they will slip away before I can put pen to paper. When I draw, I get so excited that my hands tremble because I truly enjoy the creative process."

It can be said that Snoopy's birth is filled with idealism, brimming with love, curiosity, childhood innocence, and imagination But in reality, this is just one side of the story of Snoopy's birth. Although Snoopy has been serialized since the 1950s and has been well-received by consumers, criticism from the literary world has never ceased. The sharpest critics argue that Snoopy has a fatal "artistic flaw," namely "never truly engaging with the issues of the times." Christopher Caldwell, a well-known American media figure and author of "The Age of Rights: America Since the Sixties," believes that "Peanuts," as a work famous in the 1960s, is "too superficial" and feels "out of place" compared to other works of the same era.

Charles Schulz was deeply troubled by this. In a 1977 interview, he publicly complained, "There are always people asking me if I have ever satirized the state of society. It really annoys me. I actually satirize almost every day; I know they want to ask me if I satirized political issues. I would say that the focus is on love, hate, distrust, fear, and insecurity, which are more important than politics."

He even tried to respond to these doubts by referencing his own upbringing. Charles Schulz had very obvious "Asperger" tendencies from a young age, being extremely shy and inarticulate, to the extent that he struggled to integrate into classroom settings. Although he showed artistic talent early on, he ultimately chose "correspondence courses"—completing his drawings at home and sending them to his teachers for feedback—because he felt terrified of "being in a large classroom surrounded by geniuses."

Influenced by the criticism, Charles Schulz reflected on this experience for a long time. He believed that if he had the chance to start over, he would definitely choose to "receive a better education." "If my writing skills were stronger, perhaps I would have tried to become a novelist. If my drawing skills were stronger, perhaps I would have tried to become an illustrator or artist." But it was too late, "Everything I went through made me very suited to be a cartoonist."

Fortunately, Charles Schulz did not need to immerse himself solely in the evaluation system of the literary world, as Snoopy's commercial performance was simply outstanding:

In 1950, when "Snoopy" had just begun serialization and did not yet have its own distribution channel, Charles Schulz had to regularly submit to seven newspapers, earning a weekly fee of $90. By 1953, Charles Schulz was able to earn a stable income of $30,000 a year from Snoopy's royalties—adjusted for inflation, $30,000 in 1953 is equivalent to about $270,000 today (approximately 1.9 million RMB).

In 1955, Snoopy received his first advertisement in his dog life, becoming the spokesperson for Kodak cameras. In 1965, Snoopy was brought to the television screen, further expanding his influence and allowing Schulz to completely achieve a class leap.

In 1989, Charles Schulz was included in Forbes' "Global Literary Rich List," with an annual income of $32 million, successfully transforming from a totem of the literary world to a totem of the business world. Renowned American cartoonist Jim Davis publicly stated that it was Snoopy's unprecedented success in IP development that led him to decide to create a comic featuring animals as the main characters This led to the later creation of "Garfield." Schulz also gave up on "proving his innocence" in the literary circle, and the story of Snoopy's creation had a brand new beginning:

"I drew stories about children because those comics sold well. At that time, I didn't know exactly what to draw, I just felt that the children I drew seemed to be the favorites of the editors. So, in 1950, I sent a batch of comics to the United Feature Syndicate in New York, and they said they liked them very much. Since then, I have been drawing children"—in other words, the warm and loving core of Snoopy's stories made many people overlook its inherent commercial genes, even the brand name "Peanuts" shows no "creator's thinking."

It is said that Charles Schulz hated the name "Peanuts." The original name he designed was "Li'l Folks," and there was not a single character called "Peanut" in the work. The reason United Media named his comic strip "Peanuts" was purely because the most popular children's television show in the U.S. at that time was called "Howdy Doody," which had an audience section called "Peanut Gallery," where the children were referred to as "peanuts"—the editors thought this was a trend they could ride on.

In February 2000, Charles Schulz passed away. By this time, "Peanuts" had become the world's best-selling comic studio, with their works published daily in 75 countries and 2,600 publications in 21 languages. The revenue from these comic distributions, along with endorsement fees, IP licensing fees, etc., brought the total annual sales of Peanuts to around $1.1 billion.

Snoopy, Labubu, Gundam, a dream collaboration?

At this point, you might be curious: Why does a well-known IP that could generate $1.1 billion in revenue in 2000 still hover around a valuation of $1.1 billion 25 years later?

This is a long story.

Let's go back to 2010. At that time, with the rise of social media and the impact of the financial crisis, traditional media faced a survival crisis. United Media, the publisher of Peanuts, was no exception. After countless arguments, United Media reached a consensus that focusing on news and publication distribution would be more beneficial for the company's longevity. Under this premise, selling the IP licensing of "Peanuts" became an option:

On one hand, the annual sales of Peanuts-related merchandise had already surpassed $2 billion, making it easy to sell at a high price in the market, thus reserving funds for the upcoming strategic transformation; on the other hand, according to the agreement reached between United Media and the Schulz family, United Media, as the licensee, could only receive a small portion of the revenue—under annual sales of $2 billion, the revenue was only $92 million—leaving very limited room for business growth, while operating costs continued to rise In June 2010, United Media Group announced that they sold the IP development rights related to Peanuts comics for $175 million to the well-known cultural media group Iconix and the joint venture company Peanuts Worldwide LLC established by the Schulz family. Iconix holds 80% of the shares, while the Schulz family holds 20%. After completing the acquisition, Iconix stated that Peanuts comics would bring at least $75 million in fixed IP licensing revenue to the group each year.

In September 2010, United Media Group announced the transfer of comic distribution rights to Universal Press Syndicate, officially parting ways with Snoopy. After this, Snoopy's "IP operation" entered a new era—by 2014, Snoopy's IP licensing exceeded 700, and related merchandise could be purchased in over 100 countries worldwide; in 2016, on the 50th anniversary of the airing of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the first major film of the Snoopy series, "The Peanuts Movie," was released.

However, IP operation is ultimately a tough and laborious task, especially since Snoopy has been a cultural symbol for over 70 years. How to generate interest among Generation Z and keep it in line with the aesthetics of the entire era is a rather difficult question to answer. More specifically, by 2016, the situation faced by Iconix was that the profit brought by Peanuts comics had dwindled to only $30 million, and major clients like MetLife gradually terminated their cooperation with Snoopy for various reasons. At the same time, Iconix's debt reached $1.3 billion.

Under pressure, they decided to sell Peanuts comics to cut losses in time. This transaction was ultimately completed in June 2017, almost at "break-even": the Canadian media group DHX Media, the owner of the IP for "Teletubbies," announced that it would acquire Iconix's entertainment division for $345 million—this included not only Snoopy's "Peanuts" but also another classic IP "Strawberry Shortcake," which Iconix had acquired for $105 million in 2015.

However, DHX is also not a company skilled in IP operation. Like United Media Group, they are a traditional media enterprise with roots dating back to the British children's film production company FilmFair, established in 1968, and they also need to transform to cope with the impact of social media. Since their reorganization in 2006, they have been trying to seek business transformation through mergers, strategic cooperation, and other means. The aforementioned "Teletubbies" was precisely what they acquired for $27.7 million in 2013 Many things cannot be achieved solely through hard work. Especially in the cultural and media sector, the successful methodology is invariably the long-term accumulation of a thinking system, which is something that cannot be bought regardless of how much money is spent. By the time of acquiring the entertainment division of Iconix in 2017, DHX had reached a point where it needed to "go all in," recording a net loss of $18.3 million in that quarter, with its stock price experiencing a single-day drop of 20%. The Bank of Montreal pointed out that if DHX could not turn a profit within two years, it would face the risk of bankruptcy.

In other words, Snoopy had just changed its direction due to a "transformation crisis" and was soon caught in a new "transformation crisis." Sony's first contact with Snoopy also occurred during this phase, with the transaction still being "at par": in May 2018, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. ("SMEJ") acquired 49% of Peanuts Worldwide LLC for $185 million.

Fortunately, compared to DHX and Iconix, Sony is clearly more professional. "Spider-Man," "Sonic the Hedgehog," and "Venom" are all successful works of Sony. Coupled with its business segments in gaming and TV streaming, the rich IP development is well-suited to create new vitality for Snoopy. After many years, Peanuts completed the transaction with a "price increase," with a valuation returning to $1.16 billion (approximately RMB 8.15 billion), which can be understood as Sony being satisfied with the results of IP development over the past few years. Sony Music Entertainment CEO Shunsuke Muramatsu stated after the transaction was completed: "With this additional equity, we are pleased to leverage Sony Group's extensive global network and collective expertise to further enhance the value of the Peanuts brand."

It is worth mentioning that this is not Sony's only recent investment. In July of this year, Sony invested $464 million in Bandai Namco, the IP developer of "Mobile Suit Gundam." In November of this year, Sony announced that it had obtained film adaptation rights for Labubu and would invite Paul King, director of "The Peanuts Movie" and "Paddington," to direct the production.

For consumers, this investment not only means that we may see new Snoopy animations or play Snoopy-themed PS games in the future. More importantly, perhaps one day we will see Snoopy, Labubu, and Gundam appear in the same movie, creating a dream collaboration and opening up our imaginations.

Risk Warning and Disclaimer

The market has risks, and investment requires caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account individual users' specific investment goals, financial situations, or needs. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article align with their specific circumstances. Investment based on this is at one's own risk