Eric Ellenbogen (born March 9, 1957) is an American entertainment executive known for co-founding Classic Media and being CEO of

Marvel Enterprises Marvel Entertainment, LLC (formerly Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and Marvel Enterprises, Inc.) was an American entertainment company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, formed by the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group and Toy Biz. ...

from 1998 to 1999. He was CEO and vice chairman of

WildBrain WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production company, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of Children's tel ...

from 2019 to 2023.

Education

Ellenbogen graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1978 and the

UCLA Anderson School of Management The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management (branded as UCLA Anderson) is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles. The school offers MBA (full-time, part-time, executive), Post Graduate Program for Executi ...

in 1982.

Career

In 1987, Ellenbogen became head of

Broadway Video Broadway Video is an American multimedia entertainment studio founded by Lorne Michaels, creator of the sketch comedy TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' and producer of other television programs and movies. Broadway Video also held the rights to m ...

. In 1996, he became president of Golden Books Family Entertainment. Ellenbogen was CEO and president of

from November 1998 to July 1999. Together with John Engelman in May 2000, Ellenbogen launched Classic Media. After the sale of Classic Media to

Entertainment Rights Entertainment Rights PLC (formerly known as Sleepy Kids PLC and SKD Media PLC) was a British multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that specialised in television shows and cartoons, children's media, films, and distribution. ...

in 2007, Ellenbogen left the company, along with Engelman. The two collaborated in January 2008 with

GTCR GTCR LLC is a Chicago, Illinois-based private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout, leveraged recapitalization, growth capital and rollup transactions. The firm principally invests in high-growth industries, including financial services & te ...

to form Boomerang Media, LLC. Boomerang Media purchased Entertainment Rights in 2009, bringing Classic Media back under his control. In 2012,

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

acquired Classic Media and renamed it

DreamWorks Classics DreamWorks Classics is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded as Classic Media in 2000 by Eric Ellenboge ...

. At that time, he became the head of DreamWorks Animation's television division, DreamWorks International Television. Later in 2016, DreamWorks Animation and its assets, including DreamWorks Classics, was purchased by

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

. DreamWorks Classics, reverted to the Classic Media name, was restarted with Ellenbogen as co-president and co-head of DreamWorks International Television. In 2018, he joined the board of directors of Canadian animation company

. He was named WildBrain's CEO and board vice chairman in August 2019 and left the company in 2023.

References

https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/luxury-homes/smoke-tree-ranch-palm-springs-3198e13d?st=46bdvj&reflink=article_copyURL_share 1957 births Living people Harvard University alumni UCLA Anderson School of Management alumni DreamWorks Animation people DreamWorks Classics people American chief executives in the mass media industry American expatriates in Canada {{US-CEO-stub