Some good news for a change...!

From today's N.Y. Times:

...Three years after selling the Jim Henson Company and its Muppets to a German media company for $680 million, Mr. Henson's family said yesterday that it was buying it back for a fraction of that amount.

The deal, valued at $89 million in cash and assets, gives the children of Mr. Henson, who died in 1990 at age 53, control of the company behind what is perhaps the most famous troupe of puppets in history.

The purchase, from faltering EM.TV & Merchandising, of Munich, is expected to be approved by U.S. and international regulators.

Apparently, Mr. Henson's children have been sadly watching from the sidelines as EM.TV's financial decline prevented it from pursuing its originally grand plans for the Muppets. All five of the Henson siblings are to have seats on the new board overseeing the puppets.

The buyback covers Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, the Fraggles and dozens of others, but not Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie and other famous residents of Sesame Street, who EM.TV & Merchandising sold two years ago to the nonprofit, Sesame Workshop, of New York.

Gary E. Knell, president of the Sesame Workshop, is said to be pleased by the sale, "It would have been the worst thing that could have happened had the Henson franchise ended up in the hands of people who didn't value them. It would have dumbed down the franchise...no one cares more about the future of the Muppets than the family."

Full story here.