Six months after the Weiss family announced it was to sell the majority shareholding in American Greetings (parent company of UK Greetings) to US investment company, Clayton Dubilier & Rice (read the story here), the publishing giant’s licensing entity, American Greetings Entertainment has undergone a rebrand, formally changing its name to Cloudco Entertainment.
The move follows a recent spin-off from the former division of American Greetings into its own standalone company.
Long-time owners, the Weiss family, retain 100% ownership of Cloudco Entertainment, and all current key Cloudco executives and management remain in place.
In addition to the ownership of intellectual properties, Cloudco will also continue with all of the former American Greetings Entertainment marketing initiatives, content development and production activities, and consumer product programmes and partnerships.
The company owns brands including Care Bears, Holly Hobbie, Madballs, Buddy Thunderstruck and Tinpo.
“American Greetings is in the DNA of our company and our brands, and we look forward to continuing to work with our former colleagues in licensed social expressions and other endeavours,” said Sean Gorman, president of Cloudco Entertainment. “But it’s also undeniably exciting to spread our wings, and with a slew of forthcoming announcements across several brands, it feels like now is the hour to leave the nest and take flight.”
Cloudco is currently working on the production of a new Holly Hobbie live-action TV series, animated series Tinpo (which is being produced for CBeebies) and a soon to be announced live-action/animated Care Bears film with a major Hollywood studio.
Top: Jeff Weiss, co-chief executive of American Greetings with UK Greetings ceo James Conn.
