LIONS GATE FIRES NEW SHOTS AT CARL ICAHN

Lions Gate Entertainment wants the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to require Carl Icahn to disclose information about whether he entered into a secret agreement with MGM creditors to merge the studio on his terms with Lions Gate, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Tuesday). In its court filing, Lions Gate also accused Icahn of making a “side deal” with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to induce him to accept Icahn’s tender offer and sell his stake in the studio to him. According to the Journal, Lions Gate received its information from Joe Francis, creator of the Girls Gone Wild video series. Francis and Icahn, it said, couldn’t be reached for comment. Cuban denied any such deal. The filing claimed that Icahn was in talks with MGM creditors even while he was publicly accusing Lions Gate of being fiscally irresponsible for pursuing a merger with MGM that would increase its debt load.