Cinedigm Finalizes Share Transfer for Significant Equity Stake in Leading Chinese Entertainment Company Starrise Media
LOS ANGELES, April 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cinedigm Corp. (NASDAQ: CIDM) today announced the Company has closed the final share transfer in connection with its previously announced deal to acquire approximately 27% of the outstanding equity of leading Chinese entertainment company Starrise Media Holdings Limited (Starrise) (1616. HK) from existing holders as part of an all-stock transaction. The Company now holds 385,542,162 shares of Starrise common equity, which it acquired for 51,501,685 shares of Cinedigm common equity.
“Now that we have fully finalized this transaction, we will move rapidly to implement operational plans to increase Cinedigm’s presence and leverage in both the Chinese and North American markets,” said Chris McGurk, Cinedigm Chairman and CEO. “These are the two biggest entertainment markets in the world, with combined Film and Television revenues estimated to be approximately US$180 billion in 2018. Together with our fast-growing streaming business, where we recently announced ad supported viewer growth of 108% in the period from October 2019 to March 2020 alone, this positioning as a OTT-oriented North America/China studio underscores the Company’s strong growth prospects and unique competitive leverage.”
Utilizing those unique OTT and independent content distribution capabilities, Cinedigm has already been working to develop strategies and forge partnerships to release entertainment content and develop OTT channels in China while, reciprocally, releasing Chinese content and new OTT channels in North America, such as the recently launched Chinese language content channel, Bambu.
Starrise’ Film/TV business segment mainly invests in film, television and other short form content. Starrise distributes film content theatrically and to all key media platforms in China and is committed to significantly growing its investment in entertainment content for the rapidly expanding Chinese theatrical and digital marketplaces. Recent prominent film investments by Starrise include The Wandering Earth, one of the most successful Chinese films ever released, generating almost US $700 million at the box office in China in 2019 and The Grandmaster of Kung Fu, a successful internet-released action movie.
ABOUT CINEDIGM
Since inception, Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM) has been a leader at the forefront of the digital transformation of content distribution. Adjusting to the rapidly transforming business needs of today’s entertainment landscape, Cinedigm remains a change-centric player focused on providing content, channels and services to the world’s largest media, technology and retail companies, with a strong competitive position in the two largest entertainment markets, North America and China. Cinedigm’s Content and Networks groups provide original and aggregated programming, channels and services that entertain consumers globally across hundreds of millions of devices. For more information, visit .
Cinedigm™ and Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp™ are trademarks of Cinedigm Corp. . [CIDM-G]
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