Peter Cherningroup: Last News

The Chernin Group is leading a $263 million strategic investment in pop culture lifestyle brand Funko, with Bob Iger and sports agent Rich Paul among the stakeholders.

Crime Junkie creator and host Ashley Flowers‘ Audiochuck, a juggernaut podcast company in true crime and mystery storytelling, has received a $40 million minority investment from Peter Chernin‘s The Chernin Group. It will leverage its first-ever outside capital to scale the company into its next phase of growth.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Top true-crime podcast company Audiochuck, founded by Ashley Flowers, has received $40 million in funding from Peter Chernin‘s the Chernin Group. It’s the first outside capital for Audiochuck, which plans to use the investment to “scale the company and fuel its next phase of growth,” it announced Sunday. Flowers controls and owns a majority of Audiochuck.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Is generative artificial intelligence Hollywood’s friend or foe? A new studio venture, which has received backing from Peter Chernin and venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, is enthusiastically in the latter camp — embracing gen AI as a power tool for creatives. Promise says it will produce films and TV shows and “pioneer new formats, empowering both gen AI artists and established Hollywood talent to bring ambitious, creative visions to life.” A key piece of the startup’s business model is proprietary software that will facilitate “a reimagined production process.” The company’s trio of founders have digital-media bona fides: CEO George Strompolos is the former founder of creator network Fullscreen; president/COO Jamie Byrne, a YouTube content executive who helped launch the platform’s creator revenue-sharing program; and chief creative officer Dave Clark, a marketer, commercial director and AI filmmaker includes short film “Battalion,” following the only Black unit to arrive on Omaha Beach in Normandy during World War II.

Kurt Badenhausen Longtime sports team owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer have been actively investing in youth sports properties over the last two years. Now, the private equity titans are rolling up those assets into a new parent company, Unrivaled Sports.

The North Road Company, the content studio founded by Peter Chernin, has  acquired an unspecified minority stake in Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. The deal includes a multi-year agreement for development, production, and sale of unscripted and scripted content. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Paramount Global’s Pluto TV recruited Valerie Kaplan, who hails from Hulu, the Chernin Group and HBO, to lead global consumer marketing for the free, ad-supported streaming TV service. Kaplan joins the company as global senior VP, head of consumer marketing for Pluto TV. She most recently was operating partner at Peter Chernin’s investment firm the Chernin Group. Prior to that, Kaplan served as the first chief marketing officer for Headspace, a mindfulness and meditation app. She previously was at Hulu for three and a half years, most recently as VP of growth marketing where she led marketing across the full subscriber lifecycle, including media, acquisition, lifecycle, partner and product marketing.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe Chernin Group, Peter Chernin’s investment firm, announced that it is buying 25% of Funko, the pop-culture collectibles company, leading a group of investors that includes former Disney chief Bob Iger.The consortium led by TCG will make a $263 million strategic investment in Funko, acquiring 80% of ACON Investments’ shares in Funko Class A common stock for $21/share. Along with Iger, investors in the consortium include eBay and Rich Paul, CEO and founder of Klutch Sports Group and UTA’s head of sports.Shares of Funko shot up more than 40% in after-hours trading on the investment news as well as Funko’s first-quarter 2022 earnings report topping Wall Street expectations.“We believe Funko is significantly undervalued in the public markets and at this highly attractive entry price provides a runway of opportunity and growth potential,” Peter Chernin said in a statement.