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CNBC is crowing about what it’s calling a “first” for the financial network: two adversaries in a hostile takeover attempt who went head-to-head on live television Wednesday. 
Forget for a moment all the back and forth letters between Lionsgate and its adversarial shareholder Carl Icahn who’s attempting a $575 million buyout offer. Nah, what has me delighted is the very testy back-and-forth between Icahn and studio vice chairman Michael Burns, who defended the studio’s poison pill saying, “This is not a typical pill. If Carl ends up with 50% of the stock that he doesn’t already own, the pill goes away.” Icahn was especially snarky about the studio’s “money-losing movies” of late; “It’s going down a toboggan slide…” And he’s also dismissive of Lionsgate’s apparant pursuit of MGM, saying, “To spend a billion dollars on MGM is absurd.” Above is the video of Carl Icahn, and then Burns comes on air to respond, and the two go after each other live on the air.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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GREAT STUFF!
Now all we need is the ultimate showdown:
Cameron vs Beck!
I can’t believe CNBC cut them off like that. I get the practical necessity of the commercial break. But I hate how it truncates discussion, right when it was getting good. I wish they could have left the mic on for as long as the two continued talking. In such rarified situations, Anchors should know and be allowed to stay out of the way.
And, earlier (before it started getting good,) why couldn’t Carl talk plain and say he wanted to nix the poison pill when he owned 51% instead of buying 50% more (for a total of 70-ish, whatever.)
I love that Icahn, while listing things Lions Gate has wasted money on, trashes the upcoming film with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, saying “they produced Killers, which they spent $75 million on and I hear isn’t so great.” I bet that didn’t go over so well!
If you can get past the ego-driven interruptions of the joke CNBC calls a commentator, it shows the inherent difference between Hollywood business minds and that of a shrewd Wall Street investor. They are both manipulating information to get what they need done. And the talking heads are, as usual, terribly naive. Seen that for years with these idiot analysts. Nice little boost to the stock. Um, gee, doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Next …
this is hilarious and a train wreck!
Just what we need: another distribution company that doesn’t produce. That’s Icahn’s vision.
It’s probably the future, but who will be in the business of making the movies that the distribution company distributes?
Where’s production capital going to come from if Mr. Icahn’s Lionsgate distribution-only company takes no risk and creams off the upside?
He’s like the insurance companies that only want to insure healthy young people.
Not good news for those of us who want to make a living producing movies. (Movies, I mean, not branded entertainment content. Remember them?)
That’s not napalm you’re smelling. It’s Jessica Simpson.
Why didn’t anyone ask Ichan about the rumor that his true interest in acquiring the studio was so that he could give it to his son, who wants to play movie mogul?
“not that I want to micromanage…” but I’m gonna.
OMG this was awesome!!!
I have to say Icahn did not come off very well. It’s clear he doesn’t know much about the movie studio business and should stay as far away as possible from controlling LionsGate.
So Icahn hates the MGM deal because libraries aren’t worth it anymore, he says movie production is a bad business, and TV does not generate a lot of revenue.
Why does he want an entertainment company again???
It’s hilarious that Icahn is pissed at a movie company for making movies. Is anyone else finding the irony in that? What kind of business does he think they’re in? This “library” that he loves so much, that didn’t poof up out of nowhere.
So lemme get this straight, Icahn trashes LGF for producing movies because he thinks they should only distribute. Then, to bolster his case, he points to money losing movies…the biggest loser of which is “From Paris With Love”, which they didn’t produce, but distributed.
Now, I have NO connection to LGF, at all. I didn’t even see From Paris With Love, but even I knew that that was a distribution pickup and not an in-house production. But then, maybe I was tipped off by the French setting, French producer, French director, European actors, oh, and the Europcorp logo at the beginning of the trailer.
They should not have pulled the plug on the conversation that was a bad move. They should have kept recording and rebroadcasted it for tomorrow’s show. Imagine the boxing match promos they could have run before then…
That buffoon just criticized them for producing the best series on TV that he himself watches. Too bad Madoff didn’t bankrupt him.
Ask him about XO Communications!!!!! Ask about his management!!!! Look at the XO stock price chart the last 5 years!!!! Does Icahn practice what he preaches??????
Does anyone else get the impression that Carl is starting to lose it?
“An old man is always a King Lear” – Goethe.
That was entertaining to watch! I am sure Icahn is betting that the breakup value is greater than the whole these days….
My biggest successes were from acting like a moron letting others underestimate me, Ichan will get what he wants (money) I’m guessing Lionsgate will offer a BIG payout to him to go away as soon as Saturday. My moneys in stock, yea I’ll sell for the right price BTW.
He trashes Lionsgate for protecting themselves from takeover? What is that? Apparently, it was a good move. What a control freak!
Hell, Glenn Beck vs. James Cameron will be on Pay-Per-View!