It was here those libraries merged and the HB shows were united with the predecessor shorts Bill and Joe had done for MGM, but are legally not in the same library. Turner also purchased the Ruby-Spears library, but not the studio, which became its own entity again. In 1991, a deal was struck between GAB and Turner Broadcasting that resulted in Turner purchasing Hanna-Barbera and its library. In the early 1990s, GAB decided to put Hanna-Barbera and sister studio Ruby-Spears up for sale as well. The problems however still continued, as this lead to an exodus of 80s Hanna-Barbera staff to go help revitalize the Warner Bros.
That entity became the Southern Star Group and took the rights of the shows and specials produced by that sub-entity. The first sale happened in 1988, when a buyout was reached for Hanna-Barbera's Australian division. As a way of cutting costs, they began to look to sell off the studios. This had a major impact on the fates of Hanna-Barbera and its siblings.
In the late 1980s, Taft (which later renamed itself to Great American Broadcasting) faced a lot of internal and financial issues (chiefly stemming from a hostile takeover led by junk bond trader Carl Lindner). In 1967, the company was purchased by Ohio-based Taft Broadcasting (yes, related to that Taft), which also owned a bunch of regional theme parks such as King's Island in Ohio and Carowinds in North Carolina, and thus Hanna-Barbera properties became prominent at these parks, lasting for years after Taft spun them off (eventually coming under Paramount ownership, then Cedar Fair the attractions were rebranded as Nickelodeon-themed rides, and then after Peanuts in later years), and when Taft acquired syndication company Worldvision Enterprises (the former ABC Films) in the late 1970s, this meant that not only did H-B have easier access to the syndication market, but Taft television stations also had a built-in cartoon supply. Although other animators who enjoyed better budgets in different circumstances, such as famed Looney Tunes veteran Chuck Jones, would dismiss this approach as "Illustrated Radio", these practices allowed H-B to continue producing works and employing in times where other studios struggled, and manage to continue doing so well into the 1980s and 1990s. As a result a lot of Hanna-Barbera shows put the emphasis more on the voice acting and the writing/gags than the actual animation process itself.
Hanna-Barbera pioneered the use of many Limited Animation techniques, such as Ring Around the Collar, to produce cartoons on a low budget quickly enough to meet a television schedule.
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