Sony group announce new MGM chief, James Bond still to be produced under lion logo

11-Feb-2005 • Bond News

A consortium of investors led by the U.S. unit of Sony Corp on Thursday said Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. Chief Financial Officer Dan Taylor will run the film studio after the group acquires it later this year - reports Reuters.

Taylor, 48, will become president of MGM and take the reins after more than seven years at the studio that is home to the James Bond movies. He succeeds Chief Executive Officer Alex Yemenidjian and Chief Operating Officer Chris McGurk who ran the studio for its majority owner, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian.

The Sony Group is comprised of Sony Corp of America, private firms Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group and DLJ Merchant Banking and cable television company Comcast Corp . It is paying $12 per share, or about $3 billion in cash, plus another $2 billion in assumed debt for MGM.

Ever since the deal was agreed to last September, speculation has swirled in Hollywood as to exactly how the new MGM would run and whether large staff cuts would occur.

Taylor said that while details were still being ironed out, MGM would remain independent of Sony's film and television wing, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and would produce smaller-scale movies and television shows on its own.

"(MGM) is going to continue to be an independent company, and we are going to continue to develop and co-produce films and television shows with Sony," Taylor said.

Sony will distribute MGM films and television shows, but MGM would be free to seek out financing deals for programing with other partners.

Taylor said MGM will continue making shows like the currently produced TV program "Stargate Atlantis" on cable television's Sci Fi Channel, and would remain in development programs like a TV spinoff to its "Barbershop" movie that it is currently being planned for the Showtime cable TV network.

Most importantly under its new owners, MGM will still be cranking out home videos and DVDS from its vast library of more than 4,000 films and 10,000 TV shows. That is a business arena with which Taylor has been closely associated in the past.

"We still have great library cash flow, and we're looking forward to new (digital) formats," Taylor said.

He said the sale could close in as little as two months, but timing is dependent, primarily, on the European Union giving its final approval of the deal. After that happens, the parties will move as swiftly as possible to seal the deal.

MGM currently employees roughly 1,400 people worldwide, and Taylor said that there remained plenty of opportunities for people to remain at MGM. Moreover, he said there were a number of ways for employees to integrate their jobs with Sony.

Thanks to `JP` for the alert.