Nickelodeon Snags Ninja Turtles for $60 mil

my Clandestine informants have put me on to the $60 million acquisition by Nickelodeon of the mighty Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise that has been turning heads for 25 years. Turtle co-creator Peter Laird (sole owner of the franchise since co-creator Kevin Eastman sold him his half nine years ago) said on his blog that he was simply exhausted, having given half his life to managing the green guys' wild ride of comics, animated and live-action stardom. the deal makes Nickelodeon (part of the MTV/Viacom juggernaut) sole owner of the franchise, although Laird retains the right to make comics.
No one at Laird's Mirage Studios seems to know what their next move will be (including Laird himself), but artist Jim Lawson revealed that the artists did get a sizable buyout and that the studio is likely to go on, even without their cash cow. Still, Lawson (who has been a writer and artist on Turtles projects for over 20 years) appears to be somewhat shell-shocked (no pun intended) by it all.

i don't presume to be able to speak from experience, but i find this deal perplexing. dude did not sell the movie rights, or the teevee rights. He sold the "global intellectual property rights": toys, movies, television, video games, merchandising... the whole shebang! for $60 mil. i guess it really IS a buyer's market... and Nick will be letting the good times roll. plans are already in motion for CGI animated series and feature films for 2012, plus more toys from longtime Turtles toy maker Playmates. i mean, what do you guys think about this? am i a silly bastard or did Nick get a great deal here?