Questionable Future For DreamWorks Animation Without CEO Katzenberg: SoftBank Corp. Possible Buying

DreamWorks Animation is a mega animation studio that has gotten such success with the help from its CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Corp. wants what Katzenberg started.

Soft Bank Corp. is reportedly looking to buy DreamWorks for $3.4 billion. Representatives for both companies have declined comments about the possible deal. However, media outlets are picking up on the big possible change.

The news came when DreamWorks made efforts to change the studio by expanding into television and other business ventures, not just animated films.

Katsenberg started the company with none other then Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in 1994. The Glendale campus is constructed as a Tuscan-style, 13-acre mega studio.

Los Angeles Times reports, "He's such a big personality, it's hard to know what happens when he goes," said Doug Creutz, a media analyst with Cowen & Co. "He has been the big creative vision and the strategic vision of the company ... I do think that is the question."

When news hit of the possible buy, DreamWorks shares soared Monday to $28.18 putting it at a 26% jump.

Owner of SoftBank, billionaire Masayoshi Son offered $32 per share for DreamWorks, a 43% premium stock's closing price Friday, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Sources told Bloomberg News that the deal has only been considered by senior executives and is unlikely to be finalized.

Katzenberg's company has struggled these past few years with animations like, "Mr. Peabody & Sherman," which required a $57 million write down.

Having a Japanese buyer would hit close to home for Katzenberg as he helped created Oriental DreamWorks in 2012, which was in partnership with two other Chinese media companies.

As the Los Angeles times reported, Eric Wold, an analyst with B. Riley & Co explained that "[Katzenberg] definitely been the face of the studio, but I've got to imagine the studio can survive without him," said Eric Wold, an analyst with B. Riley & Co. "They've got a great team there."

Martin Kaplan, who worked with Katzenberg at Walt Disney Co. years ago, said Katzenberg appears to have put a succession team in place."He has put together a cadre of administrators, artists and storytellers which has great bench strength," said Kaplan, who is now a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. "It's as close to a turnkey operation as you could get."