Lionsgate moved a step closer to a planned split of the studio from Starz with an SEC filing today officially marking its plans.
The long-in-the making transaction to create two separate publicly traded companies is set out in an official S4 document that needs to be declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission if it has no further questions or clarifications. The company can then set a date for its shareholder meeting to vote on the split, which has already been approved by the board. The idea was to complete the move by year end and Lionsgate is pretty much on track. The process could slip into 2025 but not by much.
It will see a new company called Lionsgate Studios split off from the old Lionsgate, which will be renamed Starz Entertainment. The filing today set out the management teams of both with nothing surprising — he same executives that run the businesses now will run them post-split with CEO Jon Feltheimer and vice chair Michael Burns at the Studios helm, and Jeff Hirsh head of Starz.
One new element revealed is a 15 to 1 reverse stock split at the new Starz Entertainment — meaning Starz common shares will be consolidated so that every 15 of them will be rolled into one. Reverse stock split reduce the number of outstanding shares and raise the share price in the process.
As the media business reshapes, especially linear television, more assets are in play. The split will create two smaller companies that could be acquired or merge with another.
On a much, much larger scale, Comcast just announced plans to split off most NBCUniversal cable networks into a new standalone public company. The plan there isn’t necessarily to sell but allow investments in the cable networks business that might not be appetizing to shareholders of Comcast.
The reasoning is similar. Lionsgate today reiterated its move is “to enable the two companies to more effectively pursue their own distinct operating priorities and strategies and focus on strengthening their core businesses, to allocate financial resources to meet the unique needs of their own businesses and more effectively articulate a clear investment thesis as pure-play content studio and platform companies.”
