Snoopy, Peanuts Brand Sold To Canadian Company
SANTA ROSA (KCBS) -- Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Peanuts gang have been sold to a Canadian company, in a massive deal with the blessing of the Schultz family.
DHX, the company that owns the Teletubbies, is buying an 80 percent stake in Peanuts for $345 million.
Meanwhile, it will be business as usual at Snoopy's Home Ice and the Charles M. Schulz museum next door in Santa Rosa.
The Schulz family will continue to hold a 20 percent stake in the Peanuts brand.
Craig Schulz, son of creator Charles Schultz said his father's legacy endures.
"One thing that amazes me every day is that people come up every day and talk to me about how much they love one of the characters and how they related to it and how it helps them through their lives," Craig Schulz told KCBS.
Preserving Peanuts is a multi-generational effort. Craig Schulz co-wrote the Peanuts movie that came out in 2015 along with his son.
"It was something pretty special my dad created and we continue to honor him with that and I expect DHX to do the same thing," Schulz said.
Peanuts lived for a long time mainly in a comic strip world, but media is evolving and so is peanuts.
"Peanuts is more than just media. We have fashion and musicals and stage productions and theme parks with Cedar Fair and we're in countries all over the planet," Schulz said.
There are licensing deals in about 100 countries, but peanuts is especially loved in Santa Rosa, where the Peanuts creator called home for nearly 40 years.