Executives Moves

Elias Fasja-Cohen, Founder of Tycoon Enterprises, and Brian Goldner, CEO of Hasbro have been selected for the Licensing Hall of Fame and will be inducted on May 22 during the LIMA Licensing Awards Ceremony at Licensing Expo in Las Vegas… Changes at Major League Baseball Consumer Products: Steve Armus, SVP, and Greg Sim, VP, depart as Denis Nolan, VP International Consumer Products, is named the new top licensing executive. The departure of Armus and Sim were  part of an MLB re-organization in which the Consumer Products operation combined its domestic and international groups, resulting in a head count reduction… Changes at Meredith Corp.: Tom Harty, President and COO, named CEO, replacing Steve Lacy, who shifts to Executive Chairman… Brandberry Founder Ashley Mady, ex-Brandberry, joins Basic Fun! (formed from the merger of The Bridge Direct and Tech 4 Kids last fall) as Head of Brand Development. Mady says Brandberry will continue as a holding company for IP/royalty collection and will sell off some its portfolio of licenses or appoint an agency to handle them.

Contacts:

Basic Fun, Ashley Mady, Head of Brand Development, 561-997-8901, Ashley.mady@basicfun.com

Major League Baseball Consumer Products, Denis Nolan, 212-931-7800, denis.nolan@mlb.com

Meredith Corp., Tom Harty, CEO, 515-284-3000, Thomas.harty@meredith.com

DMG Entertainment Buys Remainder of Valiant Entertainment

DMG Entertainment and founder-CEO Dan Mintz moves from partial ownership to take “full control” of independent comic book publisher Valiant Entertainment, giving the company access to more than 2,000 characters tied to a range of properties, including Harbinger, Shadowman, Faith and X-O Manowar. A news release describes the move as “the latest in a string of high-profile strategic moves from Mintz and DMG, the global entertainment powerhouse valued at more than $6 billion. In addition, the company has continued to expand its purview with new initiatives in intellectual property, virtual reality, e-sports and live attractions based on top-tier global franchises, including Hasbro’s ‘Transformers.’” DMG will combine Valiant’s IP with DMG’s and provide capital and filmmaking to develop film franchises.

Valiant has several titles in film production including Bloodshot and Harbinger with Sony. DMG also handled production on several films, including Iron Man 3 and Terminator 2 3D and has formed DMG VR to focus on virtual reality technology. The VR group has been working technology startup Arcturus.

Contacts:

DMG Entertainment, Daniel Mintz, CEO, 310-275-3750

Valiant Entertainment, Russell Brown, 212-972-0361 x422, russb@valiantentertainment.com