Filmmaker’s SPAC deal stages Oscar-worthy horror

Angel Studios

04/10/2024 14:57

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.)
    By Jeffrey Goldfarb
       NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Angel Studios
is going public at a $1.6 bln valuation with scary self-dealing
and bitcoin featured. It also lost its biggest show, owes
damages to Disney and courted controversy with child-trafficking
movie “Sound of Freedom.” Even seasoned blank-check pros will be
spooked.
    
    Full view will be published shortly.
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            CONTEXT NEWS
    Angel Studios said on Sept. 11 it would become a publicly
traded company via a takeover by blank-check firm Southport
Acquisition Corp at a $1.6 billion valuation. The company
describes itself as a “values-based” media business, whose
“Sound of Freedom” movie about child trafficking generated about
$250 million of box office sales in 2023.
    Southport’s charter requires it to complete a merger by Dec.
14, but the company has called a special shareholder meeting for
Oct. 15 to vote on extending the deadline until Sept. 30, 2025.
    Instead of having executives decide what to produce, Angel
Studios relies on paid memberships to crowdfund decisions. It
generated $45 million of revenue in the first six months of
2024, a 15% increase from the same period a year earlier.
    The company also has held 125 bitcoin on its balance sheet
since 2021 “as a rainy day fund.”
    Oppenheimer is advising Southport.

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Graphic: Angel Studios valuation includes odd halo effect    https://reut.rs/3Zs1fxe
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 (Editing by Jonathan Guilford, Sharon Lam and Pranav Kiran)
 ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  GOLDFARB/ 
jeffrey.goldfarb@thomsonreuters.com))