![]() ![]() Rob Lawes, who was the newly appointed Chief Executive of Lyrick Corporation and CEO of Lyrick Studios for four months, became chief executive of HIT Entertainment while Steve Ruffini, who was the CFO of Lyrick Studios, became the CFO of HIT. On June 6, 2001, it was announced that Lyrick and HIT were to operate as one company as reorganization of management occurred. He died of a heart attack Tuesday, in Dallas-Ft. Leach was to be appointed a non-executive director of HIT on completion. Properties, however, the Lyrick Studios name disappeared a few months after, as Lyrick merged into HIT Entertainment. The deal included that 'Lyrick Studios' was to be retained as a consumer brand for existing Lyrick Leach decided that HIT Entertainment was a good fit for Lyrick as he believed the two companies shared the same values about creating quality programs for the preschool market. In 2001, the company was acquired and folded into HIT Entertainment for $275 million, with eventual Lyrick CEO, Robert Lawes, being the driving force of the acquisition. Leach, who was now in his seventies, was ready to slow down and wanted to resolve ownership of Lyrick, although none of his children wanted to run the company. Again, Leach refused as he liked the idea the Lyrick was independent. Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was a part of The Walt Disney Company at the time, laid out plans he envisioned for Barney if involved with Disney. Michael Eisner, who was CEO of The Walt Disney Company at the time, offered to make Barney as big as Mickey Mouse if Lyrick was sold to Disney. Īs Lyrick Studios was growing, The Walt Disney Company, was looking to buy the company. The goal of the building expansion was to unite the company's operations in one spot. The first phase of the campus was expected to cost $6 million, which consisted of a two-story 60,000-square-foot building. In 1999, Lyrick planned to expand their existing headquarters to add 400,000 square feet. ![]() They acquired the distribution rights for VeggieTales and The Wiggles and also distributed book publishing and video gaming rights for some Humongous Entertainment video game characters like Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, and Pajama Sam. In the late 1990s, Lyrick turned its primary focus on distribution of children's TV shows and films. Both The Lyons Group and Big Feats! Entertainment became subsidiaries of Lyrick Studios. Richard Leach's vision for Lyrick Studios was to expand the offerings of quality children's entertainment products. Because of the emerging video business, it led to the creation of Lyrick Studios, which was formed under its parent company Lyrick Corporation. In 1994, Richard Leach had begun production on a new series titled Wishbone, which was produced by Big Feats! Entertainment. Both series were created by Sheryl Leach, the daughter-in-law of Richard. Leach, who previously produced its predecessor Barney & The Backyard Gang. Barney & Friends was owned and produced by The Lyons Group, a company that was owned by Richard C. The company's origins traces its beginnings to when Barney & Friends became a huge success. History Beginnings and Formation (1988-1994) 1.3 HIT Entertainment acquisition (2001).
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