McLEAN—Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder’s RedZone Capital investment company in June bought dick clark productions inc. for $175 million in a deal that brings the Redskins and the “Bloopers” television show into the same corporate family.
Under the deal, RedZone Capital acquires a 60 percent stake in the TV production company for $135 million. Amusement park operator Six Flags Inc., a publicly traded company that has Snyder as its board chairman and RedZone as its largest individual shareholder, gets the remaining stake for $40 million.
The deal expands Snyder’s presence in the entertainment world. In addition to the Redskins and Six Flags, Snyder is a partner in a fi lm production company co-owned by actor Tom Cruise. Snyder’s company also owns the Johnny Rockets chain of ‘50s-style diners and several sports-themed radio stations in the Washington, D.C., media market.
Los Angeles-based dick clark productions produces or holds right to a staple of television programming, including the “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” broadcast that has regularly featured Clark counting down the famous ball drop in New York’s Times Square.
Other programs include the Fox television hit, “So You Think You Can Dance,” the Golden Globe Awards, the American Music Awards, the “Bloopers” television show and more than 800 episodes of “American Bandstand,” the music show that made Clark, 77, a star in the 1950s.