Cheddar to Debut Genius Brands’ Animated Children’s Series, Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club, on Saturday, June 23

Series Created with and Starring an Animated Warren Buffett and Featuring a Robust List of Guest Talent, Including Bill Gates, Jay-Z, Shaquille O’Neal, Nick Cannon, Gisele Bündchen and Kelly Rowland, to Air on Weekend Mornings

NEW YORK, June 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cheddar, the leading post cable networks company, and Genius Brands International, Inc. "Genius Brands" (NASDAQ:GNUS), announce the debut on Saturday, June 23^rd of Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club with 26 half-hour episodes available on Cheddar's OTT partners, including Sling TV, Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo, and fuboTV, and continuing throughout 2018 and 2019.

Genius Brands International’s (NASDAQ: GNUS) animated children’s series, Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club, created with and starring an animated Warren Buffett, features a group of kids who have adventures in business, mentored by Warren. The series empowers kids by helping them understand the world they live in, teaching them about the impact their decisions have on their own lives…and teaching them to have the confidence to be the best they can be. The series makes it fun for kids to learn to think like entrepreneurs and features the guest voice talents of Bill Gates (photo: “The Gift” episode), Jay-Z, Shaquille O’Neal, Nick Cannon, Gisele Bündchen and Kelly Rowland.

Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club, created with and starring an animated Warren Buffett, features a group of kids who have adventures in business, mentored by Warren. The series empowers kids by helping them understand the world they live in, teaching them about the impact their decisions have on their own lives…and teaching them to have the confidence to be the best they can be. The series makes it fun for kids to learn to think like entrepreneurs and features the guest talents of Bill Gates, Jay-Z, Shaquille O’Neal, Nick Cannon, Gisele Bündchen and Kelly Rowland.  The celebrities play themselves; provide their own voiceovers and lend the lessons of their own life experiences in the context of stories that are relatable and inspirational to kids. 

“Weekend mornings on Cheddar is now Warren Buffett cartoons for kids,” said Jon Steinberg, Founder and CEO of Cheddar. “Unlike some cable news networks, we don’t air infomercials on weekends. Instead kids and families can learn from the greatest investor in history in animated form on all our OTT platforms like Sling, Hulu, YouTube TV, and Philo! I am thrilled we have acquired and air the greatest business cartoon ever made.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Cheddar to further expand the distribution of our award-winning series, Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club, delivering its empowering messages and entertainment value to kids across the U.S.,” said  Mark Shoeman, Director of Distribution at Genius Brands.

About Cheddar
Cheddar is the leading post-cable networks company. Its programming is available on Sling TV, Hulu, YouTube TV, Snapchat, fuboTV, Amazon, Twitter, 60% of smart TVs in the U.S., and Facebook. Cheddar currently broadcasts two live video news networks: Cheddar, a business news network covering the most innovative executives, founders, products, and technologies transforming our lives and economy, and Cheddar Big News, a fast-paced, young, non-partisan general news and headline news network. The company broadcasts from the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, its street level studio in the glass corner of the Sprint Store in the Flatiron Building, WeWork in Los Angeles, and the White House. Cheddar was founded by Jon Steinberg, President and Chief Operating Officer of BuzzFeed from 2010 to 2014. Its investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Raine Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Liberty Global, Comcast Ventures, AT&T, Amazon, Antenna Group, Ribbit Capital, The New York Stock Exchange, Altice USA, 7 Global Capital, and Denstu Ventures.

About Genius Brands International
Headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, Genius Brands International, Inc. (NASDAQ:GNUS) is a leading global media company developing, producing, marketing and licensing branded children’s entertainment properties and consumer products for media distribution and retail channels. Led by award-winning creators and producers, Genius Brands distributes its content worldwide in all formats, as well as a broad range of consumer products based on its characters. In the children's media sector, its portfolio of “content with a purpose” includes new preschool properties Rainbow Rangers for Nick Jr. and Llama Llama for Netflix; tween music-driven YouTube brand, SpacePOP; award-winning toddler brand Baby Genius; adventure comedy series Thomas Edison's Secret Lab, and Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club, created with and starring iconic investor Warren Buffett. The Company’s content catalog also includes the animated series, Stan Lee's Cosmic Crusaders, created with Stan Lee's Pow! Entertainment. Genius Brands’ Kid Genius Cartoon Channel and its sister channel, Baby Genius Cartoons, is currently available in approximately 60 million households. For additional information please visit www.gnusbrands.com.

Forward Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), not limited to Risk Factors relating to its patent business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

GENIUS BRANDS MEDIA CONTACT:
Michelle Orsi/Carol Holdsworth                                              
Three.Sixty Marketing & Communications
              
310-418-6430; michelle@360-comm.com

FOR INVESTOR RELATIONS:
Michael Porter
PLR Investor Relations
212.564.4700; mike@plrinvest.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/71e3abdb-5b76-4f35-a7d2-de3943702734

Released June 21, 2018