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Inside The Summit And Lionsgate Merger: Layoffs Are The Order Of The Day
BREAKING… EXCLUSIVE: I’ve just learned that Lionsgate is laying off about 
80 staff today from the merged company with Summit, including executives as high up as EVP. Insiders are begging me not to call this a bloodbath because enough people are freaked out already. The integration of Lionsgate and Summit is ongoing, and this move was expected to eliminate duplication. But it’s still horrible when it happens. Lionsgate is reducing the combined workforce of the two companies by approximately 12%. It’s unclear how many employees are actually being notified today. Lionsgate had about 500 employees prior to the merger, Summit about 175 employees. The total combined workforce will be approximately 575 which makes Lionsgate a bigger and more muscular company post-merger. I don’t have any breakdown of how many Lionsgate and how any Summit employees will be laid off, but I’m told motion picture and home entertainment are the areas with the greatest number of overlapping functions.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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A bloodbath by any other names smells as rancid.
That quote in the story obviously came from someone who was told their job is secure. For the rest of us that don’t know, we’re expecting the worst. As usual, so adroitly, sensitively handled.
For you bigwigs getting richer while the little guys suffer, here’s your ticker symbol for quick reference:
http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=LGF
Dude, when your bosses hire their own untalented children to direct direct to DVD flops that’s the time to speak up. Hunger Games will not be the next Potter or Twilight, despite the cash wasted on ads and prodding bloggers to rave about the film before it was even made. Lionsgate/Summit can’t keep churning out tween lit extravanganzas and expect to a home run every time.
they better keep Erik Feig after the successful appeal of Perks of Being a Wallflower’s rating
what a joke. please.
Erik’s position over at Lionsgate has already been announced.
Yet another tween lit flick that hasn’t even come out (and flopped) yet. Talking about counting your chickens before their hatched. Disney can deal with a John Carter flop, but Summit/Lionsgate has more to lose.
I hope Spitz is gone. He is pompous, and always thinks he’s the smartest person in the room, regardless of what meeting he’s in. He’s not liked nearly as much as he thinks he is. They will make a lot more money if he’s not there.
Can’t we save the “bloodbath” superlatives for Syria, and call this “an unfortunate byproduct of corporate merger”?
They should just hire Tyler Perry to play the role of ~100 employees himself. That dude is versatile!
Painful, but Lionsgate will be stronger for it.
There are some folks there who should be axed. I’m not going to name names, but certain senior production execs both have losing track records and are a pain to deal with. If you’re cleaning house, you need to sweep out those dark corners where some folks have managed to hide for way too long.
Such a courageous post.
Whatever, it would have been shitty to name people, I’m not doing that. Lionsgate has been really dysfunctional on the feature side the last three or so years. They need to get back in touch with their core business and some folks there seem to have forgotten what that is and also how important it is to be active and do what you say you’re going to do. I’m very said to see Summit absorbed, I was a big fan of theirs, but Lionsgate has an opportunity to reconstruct their core approach even as they look for opportunities to grow.
Unless they shit can Tim Palen, who is the worst marketing head in the free world, they’ll continue to fail.
Don’t you know that, in mergers, they always axe the talent and keep the riffraff?
Jesus
This corporate stuff is brutal
Agree on keeping Erik Feig. Any company would be lucky to have him…and as we know Disney wanted him.
Because we all know what Disney wants is ALWAYS correct. This weekend more than ever.
BLOODBATH!
I can’t speak for the Lionsgate group but Summit has some of the best workers in the industry and this is a really sad day.. Maybe think about the non-execs that are losing their jobs.
Lmfao!!!!!!
there are no words to describe how funny it is, as a former hollywood exec, to read these comments (specifically here, and in general on this site). 95% of them are posted by someone with an agenda. the other 5% are posted by people mocking the other poster’s agendas. everyone is scared their identity will leak if they say something “bad.” i feel like andy dufreysne the moment he comes out of the crap pipe. what a horrific business for those who aren’t at the top. top=fun. bottom=not fun. the problem with hollywood is that everything is a zero sum game. one person’s movie gets made; 1,000 others dont get theirs made. one job is gained; 100 prospective employees didnt get a job. everyone is secretely rooting for everyone else to fail, regardless of how close their friendships are. I LOVE IT! Keep up the amazing work everyone!
Thank you for a lone voice of clarity in this shit filled shark tank.
Buh Bye Michael Schaefer.
Maybe they should hold off and extend new positions for the 80 people. The problem with Lionsgate is they gave most of their projects to Tyler Perry and that was a mistake ( never put all of your eggs in one basket ). Further Tyler Perry’s style isn’t lucrative for them because it has been done before by Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, that’s why they had to merge with Summit. I think Lionsgate needs to diversify their projects more and give them out to other people as well to get their profits from. They can co finance films with Harvey Weinstein who is brilliant at finding great ideas and Bob Weinstein for other projects, then they can share the profits and not pigeonhole themselves into just one artist carrying the entire weight…..to no fault of their own that these 80 people are getting laid off, it was poor strategy by Lionsgate…..never use just one artist to produce all of the projects for your film company, you must diversify and pick more talented, fresh ideas to work with…..hang on to the 80 people for a while and reach out to the Weinsteins for future projects / co financing….in times like this it is best that everyone works together to protect the industry and not fight internally….further with this kind of news is not good for everyone because artists cannot work well under pressure and stress…..they need to create, and they can’t come up with fresh ideas with this kind of stress hanging over their heads! It’s time for Lionsgate to restrategize, diversify!!!!
Back away from the keyboard, Harvey.
Seriously? Do you even have a clue about this business? This is the most laughable post I may have ever read on this site on many levels. Harvey Weinstein? The savior of Lions Gate? He can’t even save his own company. Lions Gate will be around long after Harvey has burned through his investors’ money and started a new company. All those Academy Awards won’t be enough to dig Harvey out of the hole he’s dug for himself.
Is this poster for real? All of Lionsgate’s eggs went into the Tyler Perry basket? Even if that were true, that is a very profitable basket to be in unlike the profit-sucking flops that were Abduction, Next Three Days (remember that? No one does), and the upcoming Hunger Games which while it may make money, still cost a ton more that will demand it be a huge hit before it begins to get a peek of a profit. Trust me, the costs of those movies as well as other missteps made the merger much more necessary than Tyler Perry ever could, especially since his movies always make a profit and cost a fraction of the above mentioned examples. This poster obviously doesn’t have a clue. Stick to reading the comments and keep yours to yourself.
No one else sees Carl Icahn in this anywhere? It doesn’t dawn on anyone that so soon after he backs off his takeover suddenly LG/Summit happens? People say this merger was in the works for years, and perhaps that’s true. Because it’s always been Icahn’s desire to merge the two into one entity that actually makes sense and hopefully money. Why did Icahn return his investor’s cash? Was it so that he can move without being seen? Why did LG/Summit merge so quickly after his takeover died? How much does he still own of LG and how much more will he buy once the merger is complete? None? A ton? And what of the output deals that Summit had with Sony? What about IDC?
I for one am curious to see how that will play out instead of screaming Bloodbath and running a playlist of who’s in and who’s out. Everyone should know by now that who stays and who goes is not about who’s the best or what’s best for the business, it’s about what makes the big bosses feel the most comfortable and how they can use employees as leverage. This is favortown, afterall