Melanie Eversley

USA TODAY

Comcast is in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation in a multi-billion-dollar deal, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are reporting.

The cost of the deal would be more than $3 billion, according to both news organizations, citing unnamed sources.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, has been searching for a buyer for the company, which has a current market value of $2.3 billion.

DreamWorks is based in Glendale, Calif., and was founded in 1994 by Katzenberg, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and movie and music executive David Geffen. The animation unit was spun off in 2004.

Its films include Madagascar, Shrek, Kung-Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon.

Philadelphia-based Comcast has two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast also owns Universal Parks & Resorts. Comcast already owns an animation studio, Illumination Entertainment, known for its work on the Despicable Me and Minions movies.

A representative for Comcast did not respond to a request for comment. No one could be reached at DreamWorks offices late Tuesday.

Comcast Q4 income rises 2.4% on higher Internet, movie revenues

There were several companies interested in DreamWorks in 2014: Hasbro, Fox and Softbank were among them, according to Eric Wold, senior analyst of media and entertainment at B. Riley & Co., in San Francisco.

"Although Comcast has its own animation arm and may not gain much from acquiring the animation division of DWA (which has operated at a much higher per film cost), content owners have become increasingly valuable as of late and we could argue Comcast sees potential value in the library of franchises/characters that could be integrated further into the Universal Studios theme parks, the increasing value of the AwesomenessTV division as well as the real-time rendering software that DWA has developed over the years," Wold said in an email to USA TODAY.

The Wall Street Journal first reported news of the talks.

Comcast Q4 income rises 2.4% on higher Internet, movie revenues