- Shares of
Genius Brands have skyrocketed as much as 2,500% since May. - The children's
media company makes and distributes animated cartoon programs for children. - The company is behind the Nick Jr. show "Rainbow Rangers," as well as "Stan Lee's Superhero Kindergarten," which Amazon Prime licensed in April.
- Last month, the company announced it would launch its own streaming channel, the Kartoon Channel, later in June.
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Shares of a little-known children's media company have surged as much as 2,496% since May 1.
Genius Brands, the company behind animated children shows like "Rainbow Rangers" and "Stan Lee's Superhero Kindergarten," has seen its market cap explode from $9 million on May 1 to $496 million on Wednesday, according to data from YCharts.
"Rainbow Rangers" airs on Nick Jr., while Amazon Prime recently picked up the rights to "Stan Lee's Superhero Kindergarten."
"Superhero Kindergarten," which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Captain Courage, was produced in partnership with Alibaba.
The company saw its stock price begin to surge after it announced on May 5 that its "Rainbow Rangers" toys produced by Mattel would debut in Walmart stores later this summer.
The company has announced a slew of news since then, and its stock has been on a tear.
On May 6, Genius Brands announced that it planned to launch the Kartoon Channel, a digital streaming channel with its entire library of animated shows, in mid-June. It said the channel would be available on platforms like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and more.
In a shareholder letter on May 13, CEO Andy Heyward described Kartoon Channel as "a 'Netflix for kids,' except it is free."
On May 7, Genius Brands announced it would sell 8 million shares at $0.35 per share to raise $2.8 million. On May 13, Genius Brands announced that it raised an additional $5.4 million by selling shares to fuel its growth initiatives.
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On May 18, Genius Brands reported first-quarter earnings, which included a net loss of $5.8 million for the quarter. It also announced the sale of 7.5 million shares at $1.20 per share to raise $9 million.
On May 28, Genius Brands disclosed that it had raised $30 million by selling 20 million shares at $1.50 per share. And on May 29, it disclosed that it had regained compliance with the Nasdaq and would not need to delist its shares.
Investors clearly like the news. Genius Brands traded as much as 93% higher on Wednesday, at $7.79, and was up as much as 2,700% year-to-date.