Lions Gate Buys Starz for $4.4 Billion for Premium Cable Outlet
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Lions Gate Entertainment, the studio that produced “The Hunger Games” and “Mad Men,” agreed to buy billionaire John Malone’s Starz in a deal valued at $4.4 billion, gaining premium cable TV channels to operate alongside its film and television production businesses.
Starz Series A stock holders will get $18 in cash and 0.6784 a share of Lions Gate non-voting stock. The offer is valued at $32.73 a share to Starz shareholders, an 18% premium to Starz’s 20-trading day average price as of June 28, according to a statement Thursday. Holders of each share of Starz Series B stock will receive $7.26 in cash and 0.6321 of a share of Lions Gate voting stock and 0.6321 of a share of Lions Gate non-voting stock.
The companies have been the subject of merger speculation since February 2015, when they exchanged minority stakes and Malone joined the Lions Gate board. Two other Malone companies, Liberty Global and Discovery Communications, later acquired stock in Lions Gate. The cable mogul, worth $8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has spoken publicly about rolling up media companies to gain scale.
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