Lionsgate shares jumped nearly 14% on Tuesday following a report by Semafor that Netflix is one of a number of media companies interested in a potential acquisition of the Hollywood studio. But a spokesperson for the streamer is disputing the outlet’s reporting, telling TheWrap it is “not interested” and has no plans to pursue an acquisition.
The initial report by Semafor looked at Netflix’s broader M&A appetite. That included details of the streamer bowing out of acquiring Roku, which ultimately went to Fox in a $22 billion deal, though the Netflix spokesperson said it “did not make a bid.” Semafor also reported that Netflix hadn’t submitted a formal indication of interest for Lionsgate.
Representatives for Lionsgate declined to comment, while Roku did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Lionsgate, which has long been viewed as a potential M&A target, saw its shares fall 3% in after-hours trading on Tuesday. They’re up 30% in the past month, 95% in the past six months and 161% in the past year.
In 2024, activist investor Anson Funds urged Lionsgate to pursue an outright sale or asset sales following its split from Starz, which occurred the following year. TheWrap also previously reported that Legendary Entertainment was mulling a potential acquisition of Lionsgate back in July.
In a December interview with CNBC, Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns declined to comment on the status of the talks with Legendary, but said the studio would be a “valuable asset” to “a lot of different companies” given its scale and library of premium content.
At the time, he added that there are three or four companies that he believed would be a “great strategic alliance” with Lionsgate and generate cost savings, though he declined to elaborate. He also noted that the WBD bidding war validated the value of premium content, but that Lionsgate doesn’t “have a horse in the race.”
Semafor’s report on Netflix’s M&A interest comes after it made an $83 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and studio assets, but ultimately declined to match a rival $110 billion offer from Paramount Skydance for the entire company.
Netflix executives have long maintained that they are “builders versus buyers” and would remain disciplined when evaluating potential M&A opportunities.
“We really built our M&A muscle,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in April following the decision to bow out of the WBD bidding war. “We tested our investment discipline, and when the cost of this deal grew beyond the net value to our business and to our shareholders, we were willing to put emotion and ego aside and walk away.”
Despite losing out on WBD, the company notably has engaged in some M&A, acquiring Ben Affleck’s InterPositive in a deal valued at up to $600 million that will expand its suite of AI-powered tools available to filmmakers.
Shares of Netflix, which fell 3% to $78.54 apiece on Tuesday, are down 12% in the past month, 17% in the past six months, 13.7% year to date and 35.9% in the past year, but are up 56.8% in the past five years.
