 The 2005-present logo |
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NYSE: LGF |
| Industry | Motion pictures, television programming, home video, family entertainment, Video on demand, digital distribution, music, & music publishing |
| Founded | July 3, 1997 (Vancouver, British Columbia as Lions Gate Films) |
| Founder(s) | Frank Giustra |
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Area served | North America United Kingdom France Australasia |
| Key people | Jon Feltheimer (Co-Chairman and CEO) Michael Burns (Vice chairman) Steve Beeks (President) |
| Revenue |  US$1.584 billion (FY 2011)[1] |
| Operating income | US$62.5 million (FY 2011)[2] |
| Net income | US$112 million (FY 2011)[1] |
| Total assets | US$1.557 billion (FY 2011)[3] |
| Total equity | US$53.559 million (FY 2011)[3] |
| Employees | 486[4] |
| Divisions | Lionsgate Films Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lionsgate Music & Publishing Lionsgate Television |
| Subsidiaries | Celestial Tiger Entertainment (Joint venture) Debmar-Mercury Grindstone Entertainment Group Mandate Pictures Roadside Attractions Sea to Sky Entertainment Summit Entertainment TV Guide Network Epix (joint venture) CodeBlack Films |
| Website | www.lionsgate.com |
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (or Lionsgate)[5] is a North American[6] entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, on July 3, 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.[7][8] As of 2012, it is the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America and the seventh most profitable movie studio.[9]
Contents |
History [edit]
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (LGE) was formed in 1997 by Frank Giustra with an $16 million investment including another $40 million from other investors including Yorkton Securities, an investment bank that specialized in funding mining ventures that Giustra was CEO. He then merged the company with Toronto Stock Exchange listed Beringer Gold Corp. (founded in 1986) to take the company public. Beringer's mining assets were soon sold off.[10][8][11]
Lionsgate then began a series of acquisitions to get into the film industry. The company bought a number of small production facilities and distributors, starting with Montreal-based Cinépix Film Properties (renamed as Lions Gates Films) and North Shore Studios (renamed Lions Gate Studios) in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mandalay Television was acquired by LGE from Peter Guber for a 4% LGE stake. In 1998, LGE helped Guber form Mandalay Pictures with a 45% investment in Mandalay. Lionsgate followed that up with a June purchase of International Movie Group, Inc. (IMG), a bankrupt film distributor previously invested in by Guber and Yorktown Securities, for its film library. IMG's CEO Peter Strauss became president of Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc., its U.S. holding company. Lions Gate Media subsidiary was also formed to produce for television.[10]
Completing its first year of operation, LGE had revenue of $42.2 million with loss of $397 thousand. The company share price dropped to a low of $1.40. This limited the corporation's ability to make acquisitions via stock swaps. Lionsgate instead made its next acquisition of Termite Art Productions, a reality-based television production company, for $2.75 million by issuing three convertible promissory notes. Giustra had the shareholders vote to move the company's public listing from the Toronto Stock Exchange to the American Stock Exchange, along with a two-for-one stock consolidation to qualify, for greater exposure that might boost share value.[10]
In January 1999, Roman Doroniuk was named president and chief operating officers of LGE which led to the corporation's financial operations being moved in April to Doroniuk's offices in Toronto while corporate headquarters remained in Vancouver. LGE created US based Avalanche Films and acquired half of Sterling Home Entertainment, both in video sales. Again, Lionsgate registered losses in its second year of $9.3 million on revenues of $78.3 million with most of the losses were from its stake in Mandalay Pictures. Thus in the summer, LGE placed its studios up for sale with no buyers. TV operations were changed to non-network hour-long series over riskier network shows and ended its relationship with Mandalay Television. The corporation sought out more capital and cash with a filing of a preliminary prospectus for the sale of preferred stock and common stock warrants and a $13.4 million line of credit.[10]
Additional acquisition funding arrived in January 2000 as a $33.1 million investment from an investor group that included Paul Allen, former Sony executive Jon Feltheimer, German broadcasting company Tele-Munchen, and SBS Broadcasting SA. This led to Feltheimer taking over as CEO from Giustra thus the passed over Doroniuk left the company. Feltheimer increased film making including several $1 million genre films at Avalanche. In June, LGE acquired Trimark Pictures for approximately $50 million in stock and cash including taking on $36 million in debt.[10]
Lionsgate continued making acquisitions during the decade to boost distribution and its film library. Artisan Entertainment was purchased in late 2003 for $160 million in cash.[12] In 2004, Erik Nelson reacquired Termite Art and renamed it to Creative Differences.[13]
Lionsgate partnered with Panamax Films in 2005 to make movies for the Latino market which only produced two films.[14] In April 2005, LGE set up Maple Pictures subsidiary as its Canadian distributor under the direction of Brad Pelman and Laurie May.[15] On August 1, 2005, Lions Gate Entertainment acquired the entire library of Modern Entertainment, the U.S. film division of the Swedish television company Modern Times Group.[16][17] Redbus Film Distribution of UK was acquired by the corporation in October 2005 for about $35 million in cash and stock[18] and became Lionsgate UK on February 23, 2006.[19][20]
On March 15, 2006, Lionsgate sold Lionsgate Studios to Bosa Development Corporation.[21] In July, LGE purchased Debmar-Mercury, an independent television distributor, which will continue operations as a LGE subsidiary.[22] The company agreed in August to lease term with New Mexico State Land Office and the city of Rio Rancho for a new 52.8 acres studio near Rio Rancho's under construction city center and arena.[23]
In early 2007, Lionsgate bought a partial stake in independent film distribution company Roadside Attractions.[24] Lionsgate started up Liongate Music by June 2007.[25] In September 2007, LGE bought Mandate Pictures for $56.3 million, $44.3 million in cash and $12 million in stock, and taking on $6.6 million of Mandate's debt. Mandate Chief Executive Joe Drake returned to the company as co-chief operating officer of its film unit.[26]
By July 2008, Lionsgate has not made any progress on building its new film studio in Rio Rancho or on setting up the corporation to run the studio per its agreement with New Mexico.[27] In January 2009, LGE purchased TV Guide Network and TVGuide.com from Macrovision Solutions for $255 million cash.[28] In May 2009, LGE sold a 49% stake in TV Guide Network and website to One Equity Partners under pressure from shareholder Carl Icahn.[29]
Lionsgate cut back its slate of films per year by four in February 2009. In April, Relativity Media signed with LGE for a 5 picture per year multi-year film distribution.[30] In August, LGE signed with Redbox for a five-year same day release deal worth $158 million.[31] Lionsgate, along with MGM and Paramount Pictures/Viacom, is also a co-owner of Epix, a pay TV movie channel which debuted on October 30.[32][33]
In September 2010, Lionsgate and Televisa formed a Joint venture, Pantelion Films, to produce for the next five years eight to 10 films a year targeted for the U.S. Latino market.[14]
They sold off their Canadian distribution unit, Maple Pictures in September 2011 to Alliance Films.[34]
Lionsgate announced on January 13, 2012, that it had acquired Summit Entertainment, producers and distributors of the Twilight Saga films, for $412.5 million.[35] The two companies have planned on merging since 2008.[36]
On October 6, 2012, Lions Gate Entertainment announced that Brian Goldsmith became the co-COO of the company and joining co-COO Steve Beeks.[37] On November 18, 2012, Lionsgate announced it has passed over the $1 billion mark for the first time with the success of The Hunger Games and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.[38]
Distribution [edit]
The distribution of selected recent non-in-house films for pay-per-view and on-demand are under the supervision of NBCUniversal Television Distribution under Universal Pictures (Universal formerly held home video and television rights to many of the early Lionsgate films), while all others (particularly the in-house films) are distributed for both cable and broadcast television through Lionsgate's syndicated division.
Films [edit]
Aside from home video distribution of films sub-licensed from other studios, Lionsgate's library consists of films from the respective companies Lionsgate succeeded-in-interest, such as Trimark Pictures, Vestron Pictures, and Artisan Entertainment, in addition to their in-house material. Their complete ownership depends on the worldwide regions of license.
Television [edit]
Lionsgate Television produced such series as The Dead Zone, Five Days to Midnight, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Boss, Tyler Perry's House of Payne and the Emmy Award-winning Mad Men. Lionsgate also recently acquired TV syndication firm Debmar-Mercury in 2006[39] with 20th Television handling ad-sales with the exception for Meet the Browns, as the ad-sales are handled by Disney-ABC Domestic Television and Turner Television co-distributing the series. Lionsgate also co-owns the TV Guide Network with CBS Corporation.
Video [edit]
Lionsgate has a home video library of more than 13,000 films with all of the former Artisan Entertainment releases (many the result of output deals with other studios), including such titles as Dirty Dancing, Earth Girls are Easy, Army of One, Total Recall, On Golden Pond, and the Rambo series. Lionsgate also distributes select NBC programs such as Will & Grace, Little House on the Prairie and The Biggest Loser; Mattel's Barbie-branded videos and Clifford the Big Red Dog videos from the Scholastic Corporation and is also the current home video distributor of HiT Entertainment titles, including Barney & Friends, Thomas and Friends, and Fraggle Rock.
Video properties currently owned by Lionsgate Home Entertainment include those from Family Home Entertainment, Vestron Video, Lightning Video (a former Vestron company), and Magnum Entertainment.
Record label & music publishing [edit]
Lionsgate possesses its own record label and music publishing company in the form of Lionsgate Music and Publishing. Lionsgate Music established a joint venture with music publishing company Sony Music Australia.[40]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ a b "LGF Income Statement". Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo!. May 31, 2011. Retrieved April, 21.
- ^ "LGF Income Statement | Lions Gate Entertainment Corpor Stock - Yahoo! Finance". Finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- ^ a b "LGF Balance Sheet". Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo!. March 31, 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
- ^ "LGF Profile". Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo!. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
- ^ "Lionsgate Entertainment Corp. Company Profile – Yahoo! Finance". Biz.yahoo.com. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
- ^ "LGE Company Snapshot". CorporateInformation. Wright Investors Service. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ "Lionsgate Investors". Lions Gate. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
- ^ a b "Lionsgate" Lionsgate Investors http://investors.lionsgate.com "Retrieved on May 23, 2012"
- ^ "2011 Market Share and Box Office Results by Movie Studio". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation – Company History". Funding Universe. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
- ^ Equity, Zacks (2012-04-13). "Lions Gate Reorganizes Operations - Yahoo! Finance". Finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- ^ Bates, James (October 28, 2003). "Lions Gate to Buy Artisan Entertainment". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ "2008 Panelist Bios: Dave Harding". The Faculty Seminar. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ a b "Lions Gate forms Latino film venture with Televisa". Los Angeles Times. September 13, 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (April 28, 2011). "Lionsgate Sale of Maple Pictures Stake in the Works". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ "Indiantelevision.com" Lions Gate Entertainment acquires movies from Modern Entertainment indiantelevision.com, Retrieved on June 14, 2012
- ^ "Modern Entertainment sells titles to Lions Gate". L.A. Biz. July 14, 2005. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ Verrier, Richard (October 19, 2005). "Lions Gate Acquires Film Distributor Redbus". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ "Screen Daily" Redbus rebranded as Lionsgate UK screendaily.com, Retrieved on June 15, 2012
- ^ "Variety" Redbus now Lionsgate variety.com, Retrieved on June 15, 2012
- ^ "Lionsgate and Bosa Development Corporation Announce Sale of Lionsgate's Vancouver, BC, Studio Facilities to Bosa for $41.6 Million CDN ($36.1 Million U.S.)". Public release. Lionsgate. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ "Lionsgate buys TV distributor Debmar-Mercury". International Business Times. July 12, 2006. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ "Rio Rancho, state agree on home for Lionsgate studio". Albuquerque Business First. August 14, 2006. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ Britt, Russ (July 26, 2007). "Lions Gate acquires stake in distribution company". Marketwatch.com. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ "Lionsgate Music Promotes Lenny Wohl :: Film Music Magazine". Filmmusicmag.com. March 26, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2010.
- ^ "Lions Gate buys Mandate Pictures for $56.3 million". Los Angeles Times. Bloomberg News. September 11, 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ Rayburn, Rosalie (July 20, 2008). "City's Deal With Studio in Limbo". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ Eller, Claudia (January 06, 2009). "Lionsgate to acquire TV Guide Network and TVGuide.com". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ Eller, Claudia (May 29, 2009). "Lions Gate sells a 49% stake in TV Guide cable channel and website". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ "Lions Gate, Relativity ink distribution deal". Seattle Times. April 27, 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ Fritz, Ben (August 12, 2009). "Lions Gate cuts a deal with Redbox on DVD rentals". LA Times. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ Goetzl, David (December 12, 2008). "New Pay TV Channel Picks Epix, Brand Will Rival HBO, Showtime". Media Post.com. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
- ^ Epix Picks a Launch Date NewTeeVee.com October 13, 2009
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (8/10/2011). "Alliance Films Takes Maple Pictures From Lionsgate". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^ It's Official: Lionsgate Has Acquired Summit Entertainment for $412.5 Million, ComingSoon.net, January 13, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ^ Waxman, Sharon, Lionsgate May Buy Summit, The Wrap, February 1, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
- ^ "Wall Street Cheat Sheet" Will Lions Gate Entertainment’s Top Institutional Shareholders Support This Management Change? wallstcheatsheet.com, Retrieved on October 9, 2012
- ^ "Hollywood Deadline" Lionsgate Passes $1B Domestic For First Time Helped By Summit’s Twilight Finale deadline.com, Retrieved on November 19, 2012
- ^ Lionsgate Expands Into Television Syndication Business, Acquires Debmar-Mercury
- ^ Lionsgate Music Announces Signing of Emily Osment to Joint Venture Publishing Deal
External links [edit]
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