Formerly called
|
Records On Wheels Limited (1970–1980) ROW Entertainment (1980–2005) Contender Entertainment Group (1995-2007) Seville Pictures (1999-2007) Entertainment One Income Fund (2005–2009) E1 Entertainment (2009–2010) |
---|---|
Public | |
Traded as | : |
Industry | Media |
Predecessor |
Koch Entertainment Alliance Films Alliance Atlantis |
Founded | 1973 as Records on Wheels |
Founder | Darren Throop |
Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Key people
|
Allan Leighton (Non-Executive Director & Chairman) Darren Throop (CEO) |
Products | Music Film Television Distribution Music Publishing |
Revenue | £802.7 million (2016) |
£75.0 million (2016) | |
£40.2 million (2016) | |
Divisions | |
Subsidiaries |
Subsidiaries
|
Website | entertainmentone |
Entertainment One (also simply known as eOne, stylized as entertainment One) is a publicly traded Canadian multinational media distribution company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of entertainment content, including films, television series, and music. The company became a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index in 2013.
Founded in 1973 as retail music distributor Records on Wheels, by 2003 the company had begun to expand into home entertainment distribution, and international film and television acquisition and production through the acquisition of Alliance Films, along with other distributors and studios.
eOne began operations in 1973 in Ontario, Canada, as Records on Wheels (ROW) Limited, founded and operated by Vito Ierullo and Don Ierullo, focusing on retail sales of recorded music. In the late 1970s, ROW began to distribute recorded music for third-party retailers in Canada. For more than 20 years, entertainment content distribution became the company’s primary focus as the company expanded into video, purchasing one of Canada’s largest home entertainment distributors, Video One Canada, Ltd., from its then-parent, Standard Broadcasting Corporation. In November 2003, the company was listed on the as ROW Entertainment Income Fund.
In June 2005, ROW Entertainment Income Fund acquired the American independent music distributor and home entertainment publisher Koch Entertainment. In 2007, the company, now known as the Entertainment One Income Fund, accepted a $188 million public equity takeover by Marwyn Investment Management to fund its expansion; the company was listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market as Entertainment One Ltd. In 2007, Entertainment One acquired Montreal-based film distributor Seville Pictures and UK distributor Contender Entertainment Group. The same year, the company secured its first film output agreement with Summit Entertainment, handling distribution in Canada and the United Kingdom. Acquisitions continued in 2008 with the purchase of the Benelux distributor RCV Entertainment. The same year, eOne acquired the television studios Blueprint and Barna-Alper, and international television distributor Oasis International.
In April 2011, eOne acquired Australian distribution company Hopscotch for £12.9 million. On May 28, 2012, eOne placed a bid to purchase the Canadian film distributor Alliance Films from Goldman Sachs Group and Investissement Quebec. The deal was completed on January 9, 2013, giving eOne Canadian distribution rights for titles from Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Weinstein Company, Lionsgate Films and Focus Features. On May 28, 2014, eOne announced a strategic investment in interactive agency Secret Location; the firm would continue to operate independently under the leadership of James Milward (President, Executive Producer and Founder), and partners Pietro Gagliano (Creative Director and SVP) and Ryan Andal (Technical Director and SVP). On June 2, 2014, eOne acquired Phase 4 Films; its CEO Berry Meyerowitz was named as head of eOne's U.S. film distribution business and North American family entertainment business. On July 17, the company acquired Paperny Entertainment. On August 28, 2014, eOne acquired Force Four Entertainment.