Starz Entertainment
Canadian-American entertainment company trading on Nasdaq as STRZ.
Starz Entertainment Corp., originally called Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, is a Canadian-American media firm based in Santa Monica, California. Frank Giustra founded it on July 10, 1997, and it was incorporated in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its Nasdaq ticker is STRZ.
Quick Facts
- Former name
- Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (1997–2024)
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Founded
- 10 July 1997 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Founder
- Frank Giustra
- Successor
- Lionsgate Studios (film and TV businesses)
- Headquarters
- Santa Monica, California
- Country
- U.S.
- Services
- Video on demand
- Broadcast programming
- Digital distribution
Facts from the source article.
History
Lionsgate was founded in 1997 by Frank Giustra, who put in $16 million of his own money, with an additional $40 million coming from investors like Keyur Patel and Yorkton Securities executives, including G. Scott Paterson. The company’s name was inspired by the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia, marking where it started. Giustra had stepped down as CEO of Yorkton, an investment bank where Paterson served as president. To go public, Giustra merged Lionsgate with Beringer Gold Corp., a firm listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange that was founded in 1986. Beringer’s mining assets were quickly sold off. Lionsgate then moved into the film business through a string of purchases, acquiring small production houses and distributors. In 1997, it bought Montreal’s Cinépix Film Properties, which later became Lionsgate Films, along with Peter Guber’s Vancouver studios, North Shore Studios, and Mandalay Television. The Mandalay Television deal included a provision giving Guber a 4% stake in Lionsgate. The following year, Lionsgate helped Guber launch Mandalay Pictures by investing 45% in it. A subsidiary called Lions Gate Media was created for television production. By the end of its first year, Lionsgate reported $42.2 million in revenue and a loss of $397,000, with its stock price falling to $1.40. That low share price made it hard to use stock swaps for further acquisitions. Instead, Lionsgate bought Termite Art Productions, a reality TV company, for $2.75 million by issuing three convertible promissory notes. Giustra then asked shareholders to approve moving the company’s public listing from the Toronto Stock Exchange to the American Stock Exchange, along with a two-for-one stock consolidation to meet listing requirements, aiming for greater visibility and a potential boost in share value.
Divisions and units
Starz Interactive Ventures and Games, the video game arm of Starz Entertainment, launched in April 2014 under the leadership of Peter Levin, a co-founder of Nerdist Industries. Its work includes creating and distributing games across multiple platforms that draw from Lionsgate’s library of properties, as well as investing in digital ventures. One example is the Blair Witch franchise, which led to a 2019 game published by Lionsgate Games. Separately, Lionsgate Entertainment World, an indoor interactive attraction based on major Lionsgate film series like The Hunger Games, The Divergent Series, and Now You See Me, opened in the first half of 2019 in Hengqin, Zhuhai, China. This project was backed by Hong Kong’s Lai Sun Group and designed by Thinkwell Group. In 2008, Lionsgate established Celestial Tiger Entertainment alongside Saban Capital Group and Celestial Pictures, a company that manages the distribution of Lionsgate content across Greater China and Southeast Asia. For pay-per-view and on-demand platforms, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, through Universal Pictures, handles the distribution of certain recent non-in-house films, while Lionsgate’s own syndicated division distributes its in-house films and other titles for cable and broadcast television. Amazon MGM Studios, under MGM Television, also relies on Lionsgate’s syndicated division for international cable, digital, and broadcast distribution. Starz’s primary platform is its namesake premium cable and satellite network and streaming service, which also includes sister channels Starz Encore and MoviePlex. Beyond the Sphere family of channels—MovieSphere by Lionsgate, OuterSphere by Lionsgate, and HerSphere by Lionsgate—Starz runs additional streaming services and FAST channels through various partnerships. A joint venture with Ebony Media Group produces the Ebony TV by Lionsgate channel. In 2015, Lionsgate partnered with Tribeca Enterprises to launch the Tribeca Shortlist streaming service and Tribeca Channel FAST channel. In 2017, a partnership with comedian Kevin Hart created the LOL Network. In 2023, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Gray Television jointly formed Free TV Networks.
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