MGM's Future Comes Due: Spyglass Closing Deal

by Anne Thompson
August 10, 2010 12:15 PM
1 Comment

Time is running out on MGM, which has staved off six debt payments and owes another in September.

The threat of bankruptcy looms, reports THR. Only the promise of a piece of the James Bond franchise has kept the wolf from the door thus far. Several franchise properties are waiting for the situation to resolve, from Bond to Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.

But it looks like the hundred lenders for the beleaguered studio, which has been up for sale for a year, but garnered a mere $1.5 billion bid from Warner Bros.--MGM owes $4 billion--are finally coming to terms on a deal that would see MGM exiting a streamlined bankruptcy by year's end. Spyglass's Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber (pictured) would get a 4 % stake and would run the reorganized MGM with a new nine-member board after merging their film library--said to be worth $80 million--with MGM's.

The Wall Street Journal explains the complex deal for the studio, which will be valued at about $1.9 billion. Film chief Mary Parent would likely exit MGM and the door is still open for a possible partnership with Summit, or less likely, Lionsgate, which is tangled up with Carl Icahn.

Here's David Poland's analysis.

More: Directors, Franchises, Studios, Hollywood, Peter Jackson, James Bond, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, MGM/UA

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@johnHlang | August 11, 2010 10:30 AMReply

Is Spyglass merging with MGM a la 20th Century and Fox Films, or are Barber & Birnbaum just going to run the company and keep Spyglass separate? And what about Glickman?

People seem to be using "Barber & Birnbaum" and "Spyglass" interchangeably.

MGM's Future Comes Due: Spyglass Closing Deal

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MGM's Future Comes Due: Spyglass Closing Deal

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