Hernand works the mergers and acquisitions side of show biz. He's an advisor to media, entertainment and technology companies and investors in financing transactions and governance matters. In April, he represented DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., the studio of "Shrek", "How to Train Your Dragon" and other popular franchises, in selling a 24.5 equity stake of AwesomenessTV, valued at about $650 million, to Verizon Communications Inc. The plan is for Verizon to create a first-of-its-kind premium short-form video service for mobile devices.
"Established media and telecoms are becoming interested in new forms of media," Hernand said. "There is not only this interest by Verizon, but also a very substantial — in the hundreds of millions of dollars — purchase license agreement to acquire hundreds of hours of new short form media content, in the seven- to 10-minute range, all to be distributed over Verizon handsets, aimed at a teen audience."
A Los Angeles Lakers fan, Hernand said he was glad to have a role in a major deal involving client Shaquille O'Neal, the star center who helped lead the Lakers to three consecutive championships. Now a TV analyst, O'Neal, with Hernand's help, negotiated a strategic partnership with Authentic Brands Group LLC to manage his name and other intellectual property for both merchandising and endorsements.
"There's a growing trend to view athletes as media property," Hernand said. "You have a living human being selling a stake in his future, just as LeBron [James] did in a lifetime deal with Nike." Terms of the partnership, announced last December, were not disclosed. "Shaq chose to have Authentic Brands expand the Shaq brand across multiple verticals," Hernand said.
Hernand advised client China Media Capital in forming a joint venture with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. to launch a new movie studio to develop and produce in China a slate of Chinese-language films for worldwide distribution. The deal was announced about a year ago.
"2016 was the first year that Chinese box office revenues were larger than U.S. box office revenues," he said. "This is a watershed moment. China has very strict limits on how many U.S. pictures can be distributed there, just 20 or so per year. So you want a local Chinese production company to produce original Chinese language films for major global release. They'll be dubbed into English instead of the other way around. Imagine a Chinese Clark Gable saying, 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn,' in Chinese."
— John Roemer
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