In Leaked Emails, Sony Considered Selling Majority Stake In Crackle

Sony Pictures continues to suffer fallout from a November 24th cyber attack. When they aren’t discussing Joel McHale’s interest in discounted Sony TVs, emails leaked by hackers reveal some internal scheming related to Crackle, the online video platform owned by Sony. According to a November 3rd email, Sony considered selling a majority stake in Crackle to CAA‘s Evolution Media Capital firm.

The email in question, as first reported by Bloomberg, was sent by Crackle GM Eric Berger to Sony Pictures Television president Steve Mosko. Berger wrote that a sale could generate funds for original programming and marketing. In a separate email, SPT president of worldwide networks Andy Kaplan laid out a more specific plan. “If we sold 51%/control at a total valuation of $200 mi, for the sake of the example, we’d bring in $100 mil in cash and probably more importantly, book a gain of something like $125 mil,” he wrote. “Save the year.”

Crackle has not been shy about its struggles to find exciting content. In the first episode of the fifth season of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee (which is far and away Crackle’s most popular original program), Michael Richards, portraying a fictional company executive, quipped “Crackle is dead.” Aside from Seinfeld’s chatty web series, the platform also distributes shows like Chosen and Sports Jeopardy.

The leaked emails indicate that Crackle, like many other online video properties, appears to be on the market. Sony, understandably, would not confirm that rumor; it declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report.