Infosys Ltd., the Indian multinational software corporation, has tied up with DreamWorks Animation SKG, the Hollywood studios credited with the making of "Shrek" and "Kung Fu Panda", to develop new engineering solutions, as merger talks with Hasbro Inc seem to be on the backseat.
Infosys will reportedly develop new "Java and open source platforms" for DreamWorks using cutting edge modern technology.
"Combination of our expertise in delivering engineering services and technologies has huge potential for wider use in the world around us," Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said in a statement.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks, said that Infosys was the "world leader in enterprise solutions" and the perfect partner that could help the company build new technology.
News of the tie up with Infosys comes as talks of DreamWorks merger with Hasbro seem to have fizzled out. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the merger talks broke down without any agreement.
Hasbro Inc, the "monopoly" toymaker and DreamWorks were in preliminary talks of a merger and the latter was reportedly looking for a price that would exceed $30 a share.
Analysts believe that the price was the annulling factor of a potential merger. According to Variety, Hasbro was willing to pay a maximum of $2.3 billion but DreamWorks was looking for at least $3 billion in the deal.
"DreamWorks Animation's potential as an acquisition target has been a leading investment thesis for owners of the stock since DWA went public in 2004, following the box office success of 'Shrek 2,'" Richard Greenfield and Brandon Ross, analysts at BTIG Research were quoted by Variety.
"Unfortunately for DWA, the company's inconsistent creative output, and thus financial performance, makes it hard to understand why anyone would want to acquire the company at its current market valuation, let alone the $3 billion plus that management supposedly covets," they added.
Some experts were questioning the deal right from the start.
"While we can't argue that something will not happen in the future, we can argue that there is no industrial logic whatsoever to this hypothetical combination," Vasily Karasyov, an analyst with Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., told Bloomberg.
Both parties refused to comment on the deal.
