We’ve been watching the looming split between Lionsgate Studios and Starz for a long while now, primarily as the necessary SEC proceedings slowly worked their way through the courts. They have tentatively suggested that an official shareholder meeting be held by the end of April. Now, it seems that the news is official. To share more, we have entertainment lawyer Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A.
Special Shareholder Meeting
Lionsgate Studios and Starz will, indeed, honor that tentative promise after all. It was announced last week that the final shareholder vote will go ahead on April 23 this year, which is the last formal step required before the separation of the two entities. All shareholders on record as of March 12 this year will have a ballot open to them at the meeting.
The State of the Separation
This has been a long time coming for the two entities— so long, in fact, that one of the first setbacks was the pandemic itself. However, despite the many roadblocks that managed to interfere along the way, the split itself seems to have been one of the most amicable and simple of the M&A activities we’ve seen of late. This is likely due to a shared group vision of each entity’s future prospects.
This separation builds on a trend we have seen throughout the industry in recent years. Comcast, for example, is currently in the process of spinning off its remaining NBCUniversal cable networks into a company tentatively named SpinCo (for now) as a standalone publicly traded entity. That deal is currently set to close by the end of the year.
When the Starz/Lionsgate split finally closes, Lionsgate Studios will be 88% owned by Lionsgate itself. For now, however, it seems the deal is full steam ahead for an end-April closing.
Film and Television 