Icahn launches new bid for Lions Gate Entertainment

Activist shareholder Carl Icahn raised the stakes in his yearlong dispute with Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Friday, launching an all-out bid to take over the movie studio after disagreements over its spending.

The hostile bid comes a week after Lions Gate rejected Icahn's offer to buy a larger minority stake and rewrote its bylaws to make such a takeover attempt more difficult in the future.

The 76-year-old billionaire owns about 19 percent of Lions Gate, and his new offer for the remainder was unchanged from the $6 per share he offered last month when he sought to increase his stake to just under 30 percent.

Shares rose 6 cents, or 1 percent, to close at $6.03 on Friday, but fell 8 cents to $5.95 in after-hours trading.

Lions Gate was behind the Oscar-winning movie "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire." It also owns the TV Guide Network and made the "Saw" horror movies and such television shows as "Weeds" and "Nurse Jackie."

Lions Gate management said it would review Icahn's new bid, worth about $575 million.

"The Icahn Group's amended tender offer does not increase the price of the original offer, which the board previously determined to be financially inadequate and not in the best interest of Lions Gate or its shareholders," said Lions Gate spokesman Peter Wilkes.

The company also has warned that a change in control could trigger a default on outstanding debt totaling $516 million.