The Raine Group, a New Yorkbased boutique investment bank that specializes in media and entertainment investments, has invested $60 million in exchange for a 20 percent stake in Important Studios, a new production company being formed by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
James Schwab, chair of the media and entertainment practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York, is leading a team from the firm advising Parker and Stone. The deal by the South Park duo represents a departure from the entertainment industry standard of 50 or so years ago, when brands were owned by the studios that employed them.
