Starz CEO on All Their Lawsuits: ‘A Lot, Too Much, a Waste of Time’
Starz would really appreciate it if you’d all stop suing them, already.
On Thursday, a media analyst asked Starz CFO Scott Macdonald if he could better quantify or qualify litigation costs from the company’s fiscal second quarter. CEO Chris Albrecht jumped in before Macdonald even had a chance to open his mouth.
“A LOT! A LOT. Dick Wolf is gonna do a new show: ‘Law & Starz,'” he responded emphatically on the afternoon’s Q2 conference call. “How many unfounded lawsuits can one company get hit with?”
Albrecht then answered his own question — and the analyst’s: “A LOT. Too much. A waste of time,” the boss said.
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Macdonald then provided a little more color in his own way, explaining the costs came in at “a few million dollars.”
One of the relevant cases — a matter of shareholder litigation — has since been resolved, he said. But another comes from within — and it’s ongoing.
Former Starz Senior Vice President Keno Thomas has a pending lawsuit against his ex-employer, claiming he was fired for being a whistle-blower. Thomas says he refused to participate in illegal dealings, and says he was exiled for his advocacy in favor of minority employees. Starz, meanwhile, says the termination was actually just for poor performance. That one should show up in the Q3 financials too — and maybe Q4, at this pace.
Read all about Starz’s actual second-quarter 2016 earnings results here.
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Chris Albrecht to Stay Atop Starz After Lionsgate Acquisition
