Loeb Represents Vin Di Bona Productions in Majority Stake Sale to Clarion Capital Partners

Loeb & Loeb represented Vin Di Bona Productions (VDBP), the entertainment and television production company behind the family-friendly show “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (“AFV”), and its entertainment studio, FishBowl WorldWide Media (FB), in their majority stake sale to an investor group led by Clarion Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm.

According to the joint announcement, Vin Di Bona, president and CEO of VDBP and FB, will remain as president and CEO of both companies and will continue to lead the companies into their next chapters. VDBP and FB will operate as the cornerstone within the entertainment companies of Clarion-backed V10 Entertainment helmed by CEO John Stevens and President Hans Schiff. This will allow VDBP and FB access to substantial capital to further expand the business and continue creating family-friendly programming, as they have for the past three and one-half decades.

Emmy award-winning and Peabody recipient Vin Di Bona has produced an unprecedented 33 seasons of “AFV,” making it one of the longest-running primetime entertainment shows in the history of ABC and television. He earned his pioneer status by launching “AFV” on ABC and becoming the father of the user-generated, comedy genre, and he was the first producer to import multiple television formats from Japan.

The Loeb team that represented Vin Di Bona Productions in the transaction included Arash Khalili, co-chair of the firm’s Capital Markets & Corporate department and Sports industry practice; Corporate partner Ann Chen and associates Ryan Kashfian, Edward Lee and Sam Raffa; Corporate partner Robert Barry; Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits partner Marla Aspinwall; Tax partner Ryan Austin; Podcast chair Anne Kennedy McGuire; Entertainment senior counsel Brandon Cherry and associate Brittany Berckes; Advanced Media & Technology partner Daniel Frohling, senior counsel Tatyana Gilles and Robyn Mohr and paralegal Alexandra Sandmann; Employment & Labor partner Sarina Saluja and associate Avi Gholian; Litigation partner Jerry Phillips; and Finance senior counsel Richard Facundo.