History Main / FranchiseOwnershipAcquisition

* The rights to ''Franchise/StarTrek'' have changed hands several times through corporate mergers and acquisitions. There was even a period in the 2000s and 2010s where the film rights and TV rights were split between respectively Creator/{{Paramount}} and Creator/{{CBS}} by their mutual parent company Viacom, which caused legal headaches for licensees like ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' creator Creator/CrypticStudios.

* ''Manga/ShamanKing'' was originally published by Shueisha. After Hiroyuki Takei left Shueisha in 2017 due to CreativeDifferences in 2017, the rights would be picked up by Kodansha.

* While ''Tenchi Muyo!'' has been owned by Creator/{{AIC}} since the beginning, they negotiated a deal with Toei Agency to jointly share the franchise's copyrights in April 2021.

* In 2008, Creator/NBCUniversal bought Geneon Entertainment (after which it was renamed Geneon Universal Entertainment and then Creator/NBCUniversalEntertainmentJapan) from Dentsu, which acquired Geneon (then known as Pioneer LDC) five years earlier. Thus, [=NBCUniversal=] now holds several [=IPs=] previously owned by Pioneer and Geneon including ''Anime/{{Moldiver}}'', ''Anime/ArmitageIII'', the pre-1999 ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' titles, ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'', ''Anime/BlackLagoon'', ''Manga/{{Mahoromatic}}'' and so on.

* In 2008, Creator/NBCUniversal bought Geneon Entertainment (after which it was renamed Geneon Universal Entertainment and then Creator/NBCUniversalEntertainmentJapan) from Dentsu, which acquired Geneon (then known as Pioneer LDC) five years earlier. Thus, they now hold the rights to several of [=IPs=] previously held by both Pioneer and Geneon including ''Anime/{{Moldiver}}'', ''Anime/ArmitageIII'', the pre-1999 ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' titles, ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'', ''Anime/BlackLagoon'', ''Manga/{{Mahoromatic}}'' and so on.

* When Dentsu purchased Pioneer LDC and renamed the company Geneon Entertainment in 2003, they acquired the rights to several of their anime franchises including ''Anime/{{Moldiver}}'', ''Anime/ArmitageIII'', the pre-1999 ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' titles, ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'', and so on. In 2008, Creator/NBCUniversal bought Geneon (after which it was renamed Geneon Universal and then Creator/NBCUniversalEntertainmentJapan), thus it now owns the [=IPs=] previously held by both Pioneer and Geneon.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/GGBond'' is produced by Creator/WinsingAnimation, but was created by [=BlueArc=] Animation, being sold off to Winsing Animation after the fourth season due to Winsing needing some shows to develop to keep their infancy from becoming a problem. The fifth season was the first one to be produced by Winsing.

* When Dentsu purchased Pioneer LDC and renamed the company Geneon Entertainment in 2003, they acquired the rights to several their anime franchises including ''Anime/{{Moldiver}}'', ''Anime/ArmitageIII'', the pre-1999 ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' titles, ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'', and so on. In 2008, Creator/NBCUniversal bought Geneon (after which it was renamed Geneon Universal and then Creator/NBCUniversalEntertainmentJapan), thus it now owns the [=IPs=] previously held by both Pioneer and Geneon.

* When Dentsu purchased Pioneer LDC and renamed the company Geneon Entertainment in 2003, they acquired the rights to several their anime franchises including ''Anime/{{Moldiver}}'', ''Anime/ArmitageIII'', the pre-1999 ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' titles, ''Anime/ElHazardTheMagificentWorld'', and so on. In 2008, Creator/NBCUniversal bought Geneon (after which it was renamed Geneon Universal and then Creator/NBCUniversalEntertainmentJapan), thus it now owns the IPs previously held by both Pioneer and Geneon.

** Disney bought out 20th Century Fox (after which it was renamed as "Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios") in 2019, and now holds its multitude of franchises such as ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'', ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'', ''Franchise/DieHard'', ''Film/HomeAlone'', ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'', and ''Franchise/TheSimpsons''.

* The ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' series of films have jumped from one company to another, mainly to the majority of these companies going bankrupt:

* The rights to the [[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men films]] were originally bought out by Fox back in the 1990s when Marvel was facing the fear of bankruptcy, and it wasn't until Disney bought Fox itself that the rights to the live-action X-Men films returned to Marvel some 20 years later; ironically, since Marvel was bought by Disney back in 2009, this technically makes the X-Men films a Disney property, meaning the franchise changed hands twice.

** Disney bought Franchise/TheMuppets from The Jim Henson Company in 2004.
** Disney bought Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} in 2012, and thus now owns Franchise/StarWars and Franchise/IndianaJones franchises.

For a related concept see ChannelHop where the franchise changes to a new television channel or other kind of distributor (e.g. Movie studio, comic/magazine publisher), but the franchise itself otherwise remains with the group and/or creative team that owns it.

As modern commercial fiction works are made to make a profit, unsurprisingly entertainment franchises and other intellectual properties have sometimes changed hand from one owner to another. This can happen either by way of one company directly buying the Intellectual Property from the current owner and/or the buying or merging of one company into another. What happens when a new owner is at the helm can result in all sorts of changes to the characters, settings, and continuity, and other plot elements (e.g. DarkerAndEdgier, LighterAndSofter, DenserAndWackier, HotterAndSexier, etc) as those new creators apply their own CreatorThumbprint to that franchise.

For a related concept see ChannelHop where the franchise changes to a new television channel or other other kind of distributor (e.g. Movie studio, comic/magazine publisher), but the franchise itself otherwise remains with the group and/or creative team that owns it.

[[folder:AsianAnimation]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Madman}}'' was originally self-published, then went to Caliber Comics, and then Kitchen Sink Press, then Creator/DarkHorseComics, and finally transferred over to Creator/ImageComics.

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': Co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird founded Mirage Studios in 1983 order to publish the stories of the heroes in a half-shell and other comics. While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would be subject to ChannelHop throughout the years, Eastman and Laird would remain at the helm of their comic adventures and rights over the broader franchise. They would sell the franchise in 2009 to Creator/ParamountGlobal while comics (as one of the terms made in the binding contract to sell TMNT) would continue to be made by Creator/IDWPublishing.

** This also led to the first two being released in home video by a plethora of companies. The first film's distribution ended up being the wildest, going from Creator/{{HBO}} to Hemdale to Live (under license from Epic) to MGM.

* The ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' children's book series, from which the wider ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' franchise originates from, were originally published 1926 by Creator/AAMilne who then sold the rights to Stephen Slesinger, Inc. in 1930. That company in turn sold the franchise to Disney in 1966 which would expand into a multitude of animated television series and features.

* The ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' series was originally created by Creator/SabanEntertainment by way of repurposing some footage from Franchise/SuperSentai. Disney would buy the series as part of a larger sell of Saban and Fox Family Worldwide properties from News Corporation in 2001. In addition, this also prompted a channel hop from Creator/FoxKids to ABC Kids during the airing of ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce''. Creator/SabanBrands, the [[SpiritualSuccessor Successor entity]] of Saban Entertainment, would buy back the Power Rangers series in 2010 from Disney, of which was reportedly higher ups at that company were displeased with the Power Rangers series being part of the Disney company's catalog due to its unfitting nature, thus ushering in the "Neo-Saban" era of the series. In 2018, history repeated, though this time with the franchise being bought out by Creator/{{Hasbro}}.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'' underwent a barely-visible but significant transfer; the rights to the setting (but not the rules) were purchased outright by Creator/CrypticStudios when they wanted to use it for an Main/{{MMORPG}}. The rights were then licensed back to Hero Games for the tabletop game. Cryptic were themselves subsequently acquired by Creator/GearboxSoftware.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' is a setting (though it nominally started out as a rule system) which has passed through the hands of a number of publishers, though technically this wasn't a matter of corporate acquisitions. After its original publisher, Creator/GameDesignersWorkshop, closed down, the rights reverted to designer Marc Miller, who has published a couple of versions and also licensed rights to companies such as Creator/SteveJacksonGames, Quick Link Interactive/RPG Realms Publishing, Comstar Games, and Mongoose Games, who used either their own rule systems or heavily revised versions of the original. The result looks like a tangled history of acquisitions from the outside.

* The ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' IP was originally owned Creator/ThreeDRealms and the developer Creator/RemedyEntertainment, before being sold to Creator/RockstarGames in December 2001. ''Max Payne 2'' was developed by Remedy for Rockstar, while ''Max Payne 3'' development took place entirely within the latter, while the former moved on to new original [=IPs=].
* Creator/{{Microsoft}} in the 2010s and into the early 2020s has bought some prominent video game developers and publishers and by extention the franchises owned by those companies. Here is some elaboration:

* The ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' video game series is made by Creator/CreativeAssembly and previously published by EA and by Activision in 2002. Creator/{{Sega}} bought out both the franchise and Creative Assembly itself in 2005.

* Creator/HannaBarbera, the maker of various animated series such as ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'', ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'', ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear'', and ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'' to name a few, had been bought by Turner Broadcasting in 1991 for its then fledgling TV channel Creator/CartoonNetwork. Turner would in turn merge with Warner Bros in 1996, thus making that company the owner of Hanna Barbera's library of content.

* TabletopGame/{{Champions}} underwent a barely-visible but significant transfer; the rights to the setting (but not the rules) were purchased outright by Creator/CrypticStudios when they wanted to use it for an Main/{{MMORPG}}. The rights were then licensed back to Hero Games for the tabletop game.

* ''TabletopGame/Traveller'' is a setting (though it nominally started out as a rule system) which has passed through the hands of a number of publishers, though technically this wasn't a matter of corporate acquisitions. After its original publisher, Creator/GameDesignersWorkshop, closed down, the rights reverted to designer Marc Miller, who has published a couple of versions and also licensed rights to companies such as Creator/SteveJacksonGames, Quick Link Interactive/RPG Realms Publishing, Comstar Games, and Mongoose Games, who used either their own rule systems or heavily revised versions of the original. The result looks like a tangled history of acquisitions from the outside.

[[folder:Film-Live Action]]

* Creator/DCComics: National Comic Publications (as it was officially then called) was acquired by Creator/WarnerBros as part of a merger in 1969.
** Further back in history Creator/DCComics purchased a number of other comic companies and added their IP to its own universe, including Fawcett Comics (the [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] characters), Quality Comics (ComicBook/PlasticMan, ComicBook/{{Blackhawk}} and various others), Creator/CharltonComics (ComicBook/BlueBeetle, ComicBook/TheQuestion etc.), and most recently Creator/{{Wildstorm}} (initially a subsidiary of Creator/ImageComics).

* Creator/MarvelComics was bought by Creator/{{Disney}} in 2009.
** Speaking of Marvel, Marvel bought another comics publisher, Malibu comics, who had created such comic serieses as ''ComicBook/TheUltraverse'' and ''ComicBook/MenInBlack'' (of which the latter was adapted into [[Film/MenInBlack the 1997 film]] [[AdaptationDisplacement that is more widely recognized by audiences]]) in 1994 upon Malibu going bankrupt that year. Some Ultraverse characters saw some crossovers with Marvel's main universe and vice versa during the 1990s, but from 2000 onward have not appeared since. In the case of the latter former Malibu franchise, Men in Black have not been featured in the Marvel universe and has largely been part of its own continuity.

[[/folder]]

** ''The Terminator'': Hemdale (theatrical distribution by Creator/OrionPictures, television distribution by Carolco)
** ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'': Carolco (theatrical distribution by Creator/TriStarPictures, television distribution by Worldvision)
** ''Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'': C2, a Carolco SpiritualSuccessor. (Creator/WarnerBros distribution in the US, Creator/ColumbiaPictures worldwide)
** ''Terminator Salvation'': Halcyon (same distribution as the previous film)
** ''Terminator Genisys'': Skydance Productions (Creator/{{Paramount}} distribution)
** ''Terminator: Dark Fate'': Same production as the previous film, but with the help of James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment (Paramount distribution in the US, Creator/{{Disney}} via Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios worldwide)

** James Cameron was contractually obligated to give ''T2'' to Orion to option, but the filmmaker's asking price was so high that the studio had no choice but to pass. It is a fact that Cameron, Schwarzenegger, and producer Gale Anne Hurd despised Orion's treatment on the first film so much (although it was a hit) that the high asking price has been perceived to have been deliberate so they wouldn't have to work with the studio again. If the situation was different, Orion might have released both films.

** Speaking of Marvel, Marvel bought another comics publisher, Malibu comics, who had created such comic serieses as ''ComicBook/TheUltraverse'' and ''ComicBook/MenInBlack'' (of which the latter was adapted into [[Film/MenInBlack the 1997 film]] [[AdaptationDisplacement that is more widely recognized by audiences]]) in 1994 upon Malibu going bankrupt that year. Some Ultraverse characters saw some crossovers with Marvel's main universe and vice versa during the 1990s, since 2000 have not appeared since. In the case of the latter former Malibu franchise, Men in Black have not been featured in the Marvel universe and has largely been part of its own continuity.