Embracer Group, a Swedish video game holding company, unveiled plans to buy Dark Horse Media, the comic book and entertainment group founded and led by Mike Richardson.
Dark Horse, with operations in LA and Milwaukie, Oregon owns or controls more than 300 intellectual properties and has 181 employees across business units, Dark Horse Comics, which owns The Mask, Time Cop, Father’s Day, and Ghost and licenses other titles including Star Wars, Avatar the Last Airbender, Stranger Things and Witcher, Japanese manga Berserk, Lone Wolf & Cub, and creator-owned material Big Guy and Rusty and Grendel. Dark Horse is also a leader in game art collections with books like the best seller The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia.
Deadline reported earlier today on Black Solstice, a new graphic novel written by Oscar winners Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe, that Dark Horse will publish next December.
Production company Dark Horse Entertainment’s 40+ films and series include The Mask and Timecop, the Hellboy films, The Umbrella Academy and Resident Alien.
It also has a retail business called Things From Another World offering comics, graphics novels and related collectibles in three retail locations with a growing e-commerce presence
“I can’t express the excitement I feel as Dark Horse moves into this new chapter in our history. The synergies that exist with the Embracer network of companies promises exciting new opportunities not only for Dark Horse, but also for the creators and companies we work with,” said Richardson, who will remain CEO. “The future for our company has never looked brighter,”
Embracer said the deal will strengthen its transmedia capabilities by adding expertise in content development, comics publishing, and film and TV production.
The deal is expected to close early next year. Financial details weren’t disclosed.