LIONSGATE PURSUING MGM AGAIN

As one study about lions puts it, “Lion mating is notoriously quick, repetitive, and unsuccessful.” That description pretty well fits the recent courting efforts of Lionsgate studios to come together with MGM, the home of 86-year-old Leo the Lion. According to published reports, they are at it again. Citing people with knowledge of the situation, Daily Variety reported today (Thursday) that informal merger talks have taken place recently between Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and MGM executives. Spyglass Entertainment and Summit Entertainment executives have also been holding separate talks with the studio’s owners, according to the trade publication and the Los Angeles Times. The Times report observed that any deal between Lionsgate and MGM’s owners would require the approval of Carl Icahn, the largest shareholder in the studio’s parent company, Lions Gate Entertainment, who has previously criticized the company’s management for pursuing such a takeover. However, the Times observed, in order to win Icahn’s approval, the company may grant him seats on its board, thereby staving off a proxy war that Icahn has vowed to wage.