MGM Holdings Inc., the movie studio behind the "James Bond" franchise, is exploring a sale, according to people familiar with the matter, betting that its library of content will prove attractive to companies pursuing growth in streaming video.
Closely held MGM has tapped investment banks Morgan Stanley MS 5.69% and LionTree LLC and begun a formal sale process, the people said. The company has a market value of around $5.5 billion, based on privately traded shares and including debt, some of the people said.
MGM's exploration of a possible sale comes amid a bidding war for content to fill a new wave of streaming-video services. MGM's library of titles could make it an attractive target, its investors say.
The film studio has produced or distributed movies and TV shows including the "Rocky" franchise, "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Vikings." It has struck deals to license movies from its library, including "Silence of the Lambs," "Dances with Wolves," "Rain Man" and "The Terminator."
MGM's biggest asset is the "James Bond" franchise, which it shares with Danjaq LLC, a holding company owned by the Wilson/Broccoli family, that co-owns the copyright to existing "Bond" movies and controls the future of the franchise.
MGM also owns Epix, a premium TV channel and video-streaming service, and purchased an ownership stake in "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett's production ventures.
In 2018, MGM fired its then-chief executive, Hollywood veteran Gary Barber, for having early, unsanctioned conversations with Apple Inc. to sell the studio for more than $6 billion. The preliminary talks fell apart when he was ousted. MGM board chairman Kevin Ulrich, co-founder of Anchorage, told studio investors at the time he could sell MGM for more than $8 billion in two to three years, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
But the price of the company's shares, which are privately traded, has dropped steeply since then. It trades around $80, well above the $17 a share it commanded coming out of bankruptcy in 2010 but below the about $120 it traded around in 2018 in hopes of the Apple deal.
Closely held MGM has tapped investment banks Morgan Stanley MS 5.69% and LionTree LLC and begun a formal sale process, the people said. The company has a market value of around $5.5 billion, based on privately traded shares and including debt, some of the people said.
MGM's exploration of a possible sale comes amid a bidding war for content to fill a new wave of streaming-video services. MGM's library of titles could make it an attractive target, its investors say.
The film studio has produced or distributed movies and TV shows including the "Rocky" franchise, "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Vikings." It has struck deals to license movies from its library, including "Silence of the Lambs," "Dances with Wolves," "Rain Man" and "The Terminator."
MGM's biggest asset is the "James Bond" franchise, which it shares with Danjaq LLC, a holding company owned by the Wilson/Broccoli family, that co-owns the copyright to existing "Bond" movies and controls the future of the franchise.
MGM also owns Epix, a premium TV channel and video-streaming service, and purchased an ownership stake in "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett's production ventures.
In 2018, MGM fired its then-chief executive, Hollywood veteran Gary Barber, for having early, unsanctioned conversations with Apple Inc. to sell the studio for more than $6 billion. The preliminary talks fell apart when he was ousted. MGM board chairman Kevin Ulrich, co-founder of Anchorage, told studio investors at the time he could sell MGM for more than $8 billion in two to three years, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
But the price of the company's shares, which are privately traded, has dropped steeply since then. It trades around $80, well above the $17 a share it commanded coming out of bankruptcy in 2010 but below the about $120 it traded around in 2018 in hopes of the Apple deal.
