The Canadian independent content owner and distributor owns the hugely successful and lucrative kids cartoon, and its network also includes: film and television studio The Mark Gordon Company; content creation venture Amblin Partners with Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Studios, Participant Media, and Reliance Entertainment; feature film production and global sales company Sierra Pictures; unscripted television production companies Renegade 83, Paperny Entertainment and Force Four Entertainment; music labels Dualtone Music Group and Last Gang; and award-winning digital agency Secret Location.

The company has been a target of the UK’s leading commercial broadcaster since April 2016 and has spent the last few weeks rebuffing efforts to be the latest addition to ITV’s rapidly increasing portfolio. On 10 August, eOne confirmed that a preliminary proposal was received from ITV, rumoured to be in the region of just over £1 billion.

Explaining its decision to end its takeover plans, ITV said that while it continues to believe in the strategic logic and potential benefits of acquiring eOne, it had ‘a clear view of the value of the business’, adding that it recognised that this value would need to be verified by appropriate due diligence.

Moreover, ITV noted that its notion of what appeared to be value, was “different to the level at which the Board of eOne would currently engage in a more formal process.” It added: “ITV has a clear strategy to build a stronger, more diversified international business and will continue its disciplined approach to evaluating its healthy pipeline of potential investment opportunities.”