SANTA MONICA, Calif. and VANCOUVER, British
Columbia, Oct. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/
-- Brian Goldsmith has been named Co-Chief Operating Officer
of Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company,
and will spearhead Lionsgate's corporate development activities,
growing platform of channels, and digital initiatives, the Company
announced today.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110919/LA70620LOGO)
Goldsmith joins co-COO Steve
Beeks in reporting to Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer
Jon Feltheimer on corporate
management issues and will also continue to work closely with Vice
Chairman Michael Burns and General
Counsel Wayne Levin on M&A
activities and initiatives related to the Company's capital
structure, including significant corporate and project
financings.
Goldsmith played a key role in arranging Lionsgate's
recently closed $800 million
revolving credit facility as well as the Company's October 2011 secondary equity offering and its
two high yield debt offerings. He was
instrumental in the Company's January
2012 acquisition of Summit Entertainment, the August 2011 sale of Canadian distributor Maple
Pictures to Alliance Films and the February 2009
acquisition of TV Guide Network and TVGuide.com.
He has also played a significant role in overseeing Lionsgate's
partnerships with Viacom and MGM in the Epix channel, Sony and
Comcast in the FEARnet Channel and the launch of Celestial Tiger
Entertainment in Asia with
partners Saban Capital Group and Astro's Celestial
Pictures.
"Brian played a leadership role in many of the initiatives
that made 2012 a transformative year for us," said Feltheimer and
Burns. "His management of our channel partnerships, digital
platforms and joint ventures will be a key ingredient of our
continued growth. He will also continue to help
set in place a capital structure that supports our profitable
long-term growth while reducing debt and interest
expense."
Before his promotion, Goldsmith had served as Executive
Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy since
September 2008, leading the Company's
acquisition and corporate development
activities. Prior to that, he served as Chief
Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Mandate Pictures
and its predecessor company Senator International, joining
Lionsgate after its September 2007
acquisition of Mandate. Previously, Goldsmith
worked as a financial analyst and strategic planner at Sony
Pictures, beginning his career as a financial analyst at Merrill
Lynch. He received his B.S. degree from
Stanford University.
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is a leading global entertainment company with a
strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and
distribution, television programming and syndication, home
entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution, new
channel platforms and international distribution and
sales.
The Company has built a strong television presence in
production of primetime cable and broadcast network series,
distribution and syndication of programming and an array of channel
assets. Lionsgate currently has 23 shows on 16
networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and
syndication businesses, including the multiple Emmy Award-winning
Mad Men, the critically acclaimed series Weeds, Nurse Jackie and
Boss, the new comedy Anger Management, which has been picked up for
another 90 episodes by FX, the upcoming network series Nashville and Next Caller, the syndication
successes Tyler Perry's House of
Payne, its spinoff Meet the Browns, For Better Or Worse, The Wendy
Williams Show, Are We There Yet? and the upcoming Orange Is The New
Black, an original series for Netflix.
Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent
successes as the blockbuster first installment of The Hunger Games
franchise, which has already grossed nearly $700 million at the worldwide box office, The
Possession, The Expendables 2, The Cabin in the Woods, Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection and
Margin Call. With the January 2012 acquisition of Summit Entertainment,
the Company has now added the blockbuster Twilight Saga, which has
grossed more than $2.5 billion at the
worldwide box office, to its current slate, giving the Company the
two premier young adult franchises in the world.
Recent Summit hits include Red, Letters to
Juliet, Knowing and the Academy Award-winning Best Picture, The
Hurt Locker.
Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry
leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue
conversion rate. Lionsgate handles a prestigious
and prolific library of approximately 15,000 motion picture and
television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue
and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core
businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands
remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in
markets around the world.
For Lionsgate corporate inquiries, please
contact:
Peter D. Wilkes
310.255.3726
pwilkes@lionsgate.com
Kinley L. Cross
310.255.5114
kcross@lionsgate.com
SOURCE Lionsgate