Cake Completes Deal To Buy Assets Of Rival Jetpack; Dominic Gardiner To Lead Expanded Cake Distribution Unit
EXCLUSIVE: Cake has completed the acquisition of assets from rival Jetpack Distribution in a move that doubles the size of its library and reduces the kids TV sales field by one.
The agreement, financial terms of which were not disclosed, comes after Cake announced a deal to buy a significant number of Jetpack’s assets last month. We understand talks had been ongoing for several weeks prior to that.
More from Deadline
Jetpack, a well-respected indie distributor, had had been hit by the tough kids TV marketplace, but its founder, Dominic Gardiner, and Cake Group CEO Ed Galton pointed to their close personal relationship as reasoning behind today’s deal. According to Companies House, Jetpack liquidated on August 21, but a deal for the assets such as Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed had been announced two weeks prior.
Galton told Deadline in an exclusive interview: “We were impressed with how Dom had built the Jetpack brand very successfully and has a lot of recognition in the market. We thought they would be a great acquisition for the Cake family, and this wasn’t a rush to manage a financial situation.
“The marketplace changing accelerated some conversations. Globally, entertainment has been challenged, and we are reacting to that by making Cake-Jetpack a bigger organization.”
Cake CFO and COO Cat Seddon worked closely with Charles Whelan of independent corporate finance advisor Polestar CF to close the strategic acquisition, with GBH Law advising.
The agreement means producer and distributor Cake doubles the size of its library to 3,200 half-hours of kids and family content. Content carried over includes Moley, Talking Tom and Friends, Meccamato and The Clangers. It will also lead to a restructure at Cake, with Gardiner and Cake sales exec Toby Jones joining an expanded distribution division that sells the likes of Angry Birds, Kiri & Loulou and Total Drama Island. We understand Jetpack’s other staff will not move over.
Discussions are underway to assess how the Jetpack brand can continue to live within Cake. “The Jetpack name will still exist,” said Galton. “It will be on our stand at MIPCOM.”
Gardiner, the former Disney exec and Jetpack founder and CEO, will become Cake’s Managing Director of Distribution, leading the sales, marketing and acquisitions team at the London-based company. He will report to Galton and Seddon. Jones, formerly Sales Manager at Jetpack, becomes Senior Sales Manager, working alongside Cake Sales Director Juliet Farcat. Both report into Gardiner.