Lionsgate Entertainment has completed the full separation of its studio and Starz businesses into two standalone, publicly-traded companies. They start trading today, Lionsgate Studios on the NYSE, Starz on the Nasdaq.
The separation was approved by an overwhelming majority of shareholders at a special shareholder meeting last month, with over 99% of both classes of Lionsgate shareholders, A and B. The dual share structure has now been collapsed into a single class of stock.
The separation is designed to unlock incremental value by creating two pure play companies “able to pursue their own strategic, financial and operational priorities and attract investors drawn to the strengths of their respective businesses,” Lionsgate said today of the split that has been in the works for over three years.
Lionsgate Studios will be one of the biggest pure-play public content companies, releasing 30 to 40 films a year, including a dozen wide theatrical releases, and creating more than 100 shows at its scripted and unscripted television businesses, shepherding a portfolio of brands and franchises, managing a 20,000-plus title film and television library, and operating talent management and production company 3 Arts Entertainment.
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“We began our journey 25 years ago as a new and different kind of studio, committed to bold, original content, agnostic to distribution platform, disciplined in our execution and powered by a deep library and an agile and entrepreneurial culture,” said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer. “Today we’re launching an exciting new chapter as a leading pure play content company, adapting our proven strengths, embracing our emerging opportunities, and bringing our unique and not-easily-replicable portfolio of assets to bear on our mission of creating significant incremental value for our partners, audiences and shareholders.
“I want to thank our colleagues at STARZ for their many contributions to the Lionsgate family over the past eight years. We look forward to continuing to collaborate closely with them, and we are confident in their success as a standalone company,” he said.
The split will bring a higher profile to Starz , trading as of today under the stock symbol STRZ, and its President and CEO Jeff Hirsch, who has transitioned the network with about 70% of its revenue now fueled by digital. It has a subscriber base of 20 million in the U.S and Canada as of year-end 2024. Hirsch has billed Starz as a complementary offering to other streaming services. It’s inked a handful of bundling deals and said today it’s “poised to grow through capitalizing on new bundling, distribution and other partnership opportunities.”
Programming focuses on core demos of women and underrepresented audiences with franchises like Outlander and Power, including several Power Universe spinoff series and the anticipated Outlander: Blood of My Blood prequel series.
“Today marks an important milestone in our history as we unlock significant value as a standalone business and advance our position as the leading premium entertainment destination for women and underrepresented audiences,” said Hirsch.
“This separation comes at a pivotal time for the industry. Our strong balance sheet, compelling programming lineup and industry-leading tech stack will enable us to be nimble and capitalize on growth opportunities, while driving long-term success for our partners, audiences, employees and shareholders. We are thankful to Jon [Feltheimer] and the entire Lionsgate team for the past eight years of collaboration as well as for the ongoing partnership we’ll maintain, and I look forward to beginning this new chapter for STARZ.”