MGM Will Have To Disclose Additional Info Following 2012 Film Successes
Execs at privately held MGM won’t be able to play their cards so close to the vest after the James Bond film Skyfall and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey helped to push company revenues for 2012 past $1B. (It ended up with $1.38B). That’s an SEC threshold that will require MGM to publicly disclose registration information it now can keep confidential, CEO Gary Barber told investors in a conference call. Might this make MGM more likely to go public, something it said last year that it’s considering? Barber punted: “We’re coming off of a banner year” which “gives us great options for the future…We look forward to exploring all of those options. Beyond that I cannot comment further.” The CEO also had little to add about Skyfall director Sam Mendes’ decision not to take on the next Bond film. “He decided to pursue other interests at this time,” Barber said, promising to announce a new director “soon.” The screenplay is being developed now and while there’s no timetable the CEO hopes it will be released within three years. With Skyfall and Hobbit working their way through the distribution pipeline, and other films coming including The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, MGM forecasts that this year’s revenue and cash flow will be close to last year’s. That “would be remarkable,” CFO Dene Stratton says.
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