Genius Brands Launching Kids Programming 'With a Purpose'
*By Bridgette Webb*
Kids' programmer Genius Brands just secured $4.5 million in new funding, but the CEO is already fixing his gaze on Disney.
"Disney is the giant gorilla in that space," CEO Andy Heyward said Wednesday in an interview on Cheddar.
Heyward said the new funding, [announced](https://www.gnusbrands.com/news-media/press-releases/detail/993/genius-brands-international-raises-4-5-million-in-funding) Wednesday and led by Robert Wolf, former CEO of UBS Americas and founder of 32 Ventures, will be used to push the company's new animated series, "Rainbow Rangers," which will debut November 5 on Nick Jr.
"We have tried to create a niche, which is what we call content with a purpose," he said. "Every program that we bring forth has to have some enrichment to it and some value other than just the entertainment alone."
Genius already has 20 licensing partners lined up for "Rainbow Rangers" and 300 merchandise products in the making, including toys, dolls, school supplies, and clothing.
The funding news arrives as competition in the kids entertainment space accelerates. The media industry has been hit with a wave of M&A activity this year, with AT&T snapping up Time Warner and Disney purchasing the assets of 21st Century Fox.
Heyward believes the ripple effect of those acquisitions will reshape the whole industry, but he isn't rushing to join the fray ー at least not immediately.
"We're not in the position where we are going to sell the company today ー at some point, we may," he said.
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/genius-brand-rakes-in-4-5-million-to-boost-new-animated-series).
The Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization for what it says is the first device that can detect COVID-19 in breath samples.
Catching you up on what you need to know on April 15, 2022, with four of the victims from the Brooklyn subway shooting still hospitalized as the suspect is held without bail, Russia resumes attacks on Kyiv, teachers across the country receive their largest pay raises in decades, and more.
The major U.S. indexes closed Tuesday off of session lows as investors digest the latest read on inflation, showing it remains hot. Wall Street is also preparing for earnings from big banks and monitoring potential policy moves from the Federal Reserve. Peter Tuchman, a stock trader at TradeMas, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell and highlighted tech stocks in particular. 'The tech sector, which led us to record highs before the 1st of this year, are now the ones that are leading us lower,' he said.
Billionaire Elon Musk made waves after revealing he's making an attempt at a hostile takeover of the social media platform Twitter. The Tesla CEO is offering $43 billion to buy the social media platform outright with "freedom of speech" allegedly at the forefront of his agenda. Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, is taking the tech entrepreneur seriously. "I think through many twists and turns over the coming months, he ultimately ends up owning Twitter because Twitter's board, their back is going to be against the wall," he said.
Ann Mukherjee, the chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard North America, joined Cheddar News to talk about Absolut Vodka’s decade-long partnership with the music festival Coachella. Perno Ricard's vodka brand has built the virtual world Absolutland in the Decentraland metaverse for users to explore. "We actually have a vending machine where you can actually purchase the cocktails that will be delivered right to your home," she said. The brand will also be featuring festival headliner Swedish House Mafia.
