Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) is bringing home the bacon, announcing it is acquiring Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One (OTC: ENTMF) for $4 billion in cash. It may seem as if the toy company is using Monopoly money, because that's the same price Disney (NYSE: DIS) paid for Stars Wars' Lucasfilm Studios.
While the porcine stars of the animated series are indeed a global phenomena, are they actually worth as much as arguably the most lucrative franchise in history? Lucasfilm was purchased almost seven years ago, and the inflation-adjusted domestic box office receipts of all the Star Wars movies is $7.5 billion. That figure doesn't include foreign box office receipts, DVD sales and rentals, the animated TV series, books, and perhaps the biggest revenue generator -- toys and other merchandise.
Data compiled by Statista shows nearly a quarter of all U.S. consumers own at least some Star Wars memorabilia and more than a fifth own Stars Wars action figures. Peppa Pig might be ascendant on the global popularity stage, but does it approach the depth and breadth of the Star Wars empire?