DreamWorks Shareholders to Sell Stock

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., creator of the “Shrek” films, said shareholders including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen planned to sell $500 million of stock five months after the company issued stock to the public.

Allen, Lee Entertainment and Vivendi Universal will sell shares after the May 27 release of the film “Madagascar,” Glendale-based DreamWorks Animation said in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Allen, 52, is taking advantage of an almost 40% increase in DreamWorks Animation’s shares since the company’s October initial public offering. The gain comes amid declines in some of the billionaire’s other investments, including cable television companies Charter Communications Inc. and RCN Corp.

“I don’t think he had intended to be a long-term holder when he made his investment in DreamWorks,” said Marla Backer, an analyst at Soleil Securities Group Inc. in New York.

“It was venture capital-like money.”

Allen’s Vulcan Ventures invested more than $600 million for a 24% stake in DreamWorks SKG, the media company founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. That made Allen the biggest holder in the closely held company, which has produced Oscar-winning movies including “Gladiator” and “American Beauty.”

The founders separated the company’s live-action and music businesses from its animation unit last year, raising $812 million in the DreamWorks Animation IPO. The studio last year released “Shrek 2,” which became the most successful animated film ever, taking in $918.5 million at box offices worldwide.

DreamWorks shares rose 13 cents to $39.67 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has risen 42% since its first day of trading Oct. 27.

Allen was allocated 34.6 million DreamWorks Animation Class A shares as part of the company’s public offering. He sold 4.9 million shares in November for $137.3 million. Lee, an affiliate of South Korea’s CJ Entertainment, received 5.7 million shares and Vivendi Universal got 2.7 million at the time of the IPO.

Allen is selling 9.87 million of DreamWorks Animation shares, Lee is shedding 1.57 million and Vivendi Universal 1.26 million shares, according to the regulatory filing.