TOKYO: Lions Gate Entertainment Movie maker Corporation executives last summer tried to meet with Sony Corporation CEO Kazuo Hirai to discuss a possible merger or acquisition, according to emails found in documents stolen by hackers.
An investor Daniel Loeb was pushing Sony to partially spin off its entertainment business told Sony Corp of America President Nicole Seligman that Lions Gate executives wanted to meet with Hirai, according to an Aug. 20 email from Seligman to Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton.
Further Loeb told Seligman that the Lions Gate executives wanted to toss around ideas about a possible merger or acquisition, according to the email. Lynton responded later that day that it would be very disruptive if the lionsgate stuff gets out.
Lions Gate is the producer of the Hunger Games movie franchise and TV shows including Mad Men and Orange is the New Black on Netflix. The exchange about Lions Gate sheds light on the strategies of two of Hollywood’s biggest studios.
On Sept. 6, Lions Gate Vice Chairman Michael Burns in an email to Hirai and Seligman suggested a meeting, the documents showed. Burns wrote we remain very intrigued with the possibility of working together. Sony, the studio behind the James Bond and Spider Man franchises, was under pressure from Loeb at the time to improve profitability. Loeb revealed in October that his Third Point hedge fund had sold its stake in Sony.
