Embracer Group Paid $395 Million for ‘Lord of the Rings’ Rights

Embracer Group, the Swedish gaming conglomerate that snapped up the rights to “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” in a surprise deal last summer, has finally revealed how much it paid — and it seems like they got a bargain.

The Karlstad-headquartered company has confirmed it spent SEK 4.2 billion — $395 million at today’s conversion rates — to acquire Middle-Earth Enterprises from the Saul Zaentz Company last August.

At the time the deal was announced, Embracer and Saul Zaentz declined to say how much the “Lord of the Rings” holding company had sold for. But estimates at the time projected the rights – which include worldwide rights to films, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions — were worth up to $2 billion.

It turns out the reality fell significantly short of that.