Otter Media

Otter Media Holdings, LLC is an American digital branding and media company. It owns Crunchyroll, VRV, Fullscreen, Gunpowder & Sky, Hello Sunshine, and Rooster Teeth. Originally started as a joint venture between AT&T and the Chernin Group in 2014, Chernin’s stake was acquired by AT&T on August 7, 2018 and Otter Media subsequently became a subsidiary of AT&T's WarnerMedia division, which in turn placed Otter under Warner Bros..

History
In April 2014, AT&T and the Chernin Group established Otter Media as the 50:50 joint venture to offer OTT services.

In January 2016, Otter Media, together with Van Toffler (former CEO of Viacom Media Networks Music Group) and Floris Bauer formed Gunpowder & Sky, a digital content company which eventually merged with FilmBuff.

In November 2016, Otter Media and actress Reese Witherspoon formed Hello Sunshine, a joint venture focused on telling female-driven stories on film, TV, and digital platforms. In July 2017, AT&T was reportedly looking to acquire full ownership of the company along with other joint ventures inherited in its acquisition of satellite TV provider DirecTV. The company if it were to be fully acquired by AT&T will cost a valuation of $1 billion. Since February 2018, its CEO is Tony Goncalves (who was an AT&T Digital executive).

In January 2018, Otter Media bought the remaining stake in Ellation, the owner of VRV and Crunchyroll.

On June 20, 2018, Recode reported that AT&T was close to buying out Chernin's stake in Otter Media, on the heel of its acquisition of Time Warner (whose digital media holdings included Machinima). On August 7, 2018, AT&T announced their acquisition of Chernin Group's stake in Otter Media for an undisclosed amount, believed to be around $1 billion.

On August 22, 2018, Ellation formed Ellation Studios, a production studio with facilities in both the U.S. and Japan, to produce original content for Crunchyroll and VRV.

On December 4, 2018, Otter announced a broad restructuring that would result in the layoff of about ten percent of its staff. As part of the reorganization, Machinima, which had been part of Warner Bros. Digital Networks, was re-organized under Otter Media. Ellation will now house Rooster Teeth, Crunchyroll, and VRV, while Machinima became a unit of Fullscreen.

On March 4, 2019, following the restructurization of WarnerMedia's businesses, Otter Media became part of Warner Bros.