became more involved with the organization's creative efforts. The Workshop had a reorganization in 1995, and dismissed about 12 percent of its staff. In 1998, for the first time in the series' history, they accepted funds from corporations for Sesame Street and its other programs, a policy criticized by consumer advocate Ralph Nader. The Workshop defended the acceptance of corporate sponsorship, stating that it compensated for a decrease of government subsidies. Also in 1998, the Workshop invested $25 million in the cable channel Noggin, initiated in 1999 by the Workshop and Nickelodeon. In 2000, the profit the CTW earned from the deal, along with its 1998 revenue caused partly by the "Tickle Me Elmo" craze, enabled the CTW to purchase The Jim Henson Company's rights to the Sesame Street Muppets from the German media company EM.TV, which had acquired Henson earlier that year. The transaction, valued at $180 million, also included a small interest Henson had in the Noggin cable channel. Gary Knell stated, "Everyone, most especially the puppeteers, were thrilled that we were able to bring them home. It protected Sesame Street and allowed our international expansion to continue. Owning these characters has allowed us to maximize their potential. We are now in control of our own destiny". The CTW changed its name to Sesame Workshop in June 2000, to better represent its non-television activities and interactive media. Also in 2000, Gary Knell succeeded Britt as president and CEO of the Workshop; according to Davis, he "presided over an especially fertile period in the nonprofit's history". Knell was instrumental in the creation of the cable channel Universal Kids (formerly Sprout TV network) in 2005. Sprout (launched as PBS Kids Sprout) was founded as a partnership between the Workshop, Comcast, PBS, and HIT Entertainment, all of whom contributed programming to the new network. After seven years as a partner, the Workshop divested its stake in Sprout to NBCUniversal in December 2012. In 2007, the Sesame Workshop founded The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, an independent, non-profit organization that studies how to improve children's literacy by using and developing digital technologies "grounded in detailed educational curriculum", just as was done during the development of Sesame Street. The 2008–2009 recession, which resulted in budget reductions for many nonprofit arts organizations, severely affected the organization; in 2009, it had to dismiss 20% of its staff. Despite earning about $100 million from licensing revenue, royalties,