Strikes, eOne acquisition, and other issues are delaying studio-network separation.
Wednesday, Lionsgate announced a delay in the studio and Starz separation.
A new acquisition and other considerations moved the separation from September to early 2024.
“With the impact of the eOne acquisition on regulatory approvals, uncertainties surrounding the strike and our efforts to create the most efficient capital structure within a disruptive marketplace,
we anticipate that the separation will now take place in the first quarter of calendar 2024,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said on the company’s fiscal first quarter earnings call Wednesday.
The mini-major recently completed plans to buy Entertainment One from Hasbro for $500 million, much less than the $3.9 billion Hasbro spent in 2019. Lionsgate now has more titles and IP.
An analyst queried why the eOne transaction couldn't wait until after the Lionsgate/Starz split on the earnings call. Lionsgate CFO Jimmy Barge attributed the price's "attractive multiple" and timeliness.
Barge said it was for sale. “We didn’t want to miss this.” “Committed to the separation of Lionsgate and Starz,” Feltheimer said in prepared remarks.