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Losses shrank at Lionsgate and revenues climbed as the company’s television business rebounded from the twin strikes that had shut down production in much of 2023.
Revenue at the company topped out at $1.12 billion, up from $1.08 billion in the prior-year quarter. The company also reported a net loss attributable to shareholder of $39.5 million, which compared favorably to the prior-year quarterly losses of $96.8 million. The company behind “The Hunger Games” and “John Wick” franchises also recorded a loss of 22 cent per-share — in the year-ago quarter Lionsgate had per-share losses of 42 cents. Lionsgate’s revenues beat Wall Street estimates of $1.11 billion.
The earnings report comes after Lionsgate Studios debuted as a standalone public entity on May 14, trading as a single class of stock under the Nasdaq ticker symbol LION — a step toward the full separation of its studio business and Starz. Through the merger with special-purpose acquisition company Screaming Eagle Acquisition Corp., Lionsgate Studios raised $350 million from a group of investors and gave it an enterprise value of about $4.6 billion.
The company continues to anticipate that the full separation of Lionsgate Studios and Lionsgate (i.e. Starz) will occur by the end of calendar year 2024. Currently about 87% of the total shares of Lionsgate Studios are held by Lionsgate. Lionsgate Studios is comprised of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group and Television Studio segments along with a 20,000-plus title film and TV library
Lionsgate’s television business, which includes hit shows such as “Ghosts,” was the star of the quarter. Segment revenue increased 61% to $469.3 million, with profits jumping 83% to $52.6 million. That was due to a combination of library sales, as well as “post-strike content deliveries. ” The film business had difficult comparisons to the prior-year period, which saw the release of “John Wick: Chapter 4.” Revenue fell 23% to $410.6 million and segment profit declined by 12% to $82.2 million.
Lionsgate’s media networks’ business, which includes its streaming service, struggled. Net subscribers decreased by 480,000 which segment revenue fell 7.1% to $361.5 million. Segment profit declined by 28.4% to $52.5 million.
Todd Spangler contributed to this report.
