Michael Burns has been Vice Chair of Lionsgate since March 2000. He and CEO Jon Feltheimer have built Lionsgate into a multibillion-dollar diversified global content leader with a reputation for innovation. In May 2025, the Company separated its Lionsgate studio and STARZ businesses into two separate, standalone companies with Lionsgate trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LION as one of the world’s largest pure play publicly-traded content companies.
Lionsgate’s diversified portfolio of businesses includes a film slate that features the blockbuster John Wick, Hunger Games, Twilight Saga, Now You See Me and Saw franchises along with critically-acclaimed hits such as La La Land, Wonder and Knives Out. Lionsgate is also a leading supplier of premium series to streaming, broadcast and cable platforms with more than 100 series spanning its Lionsgate scripted, unscripted, Debmar-Mercury, 3 Arts and eOne businesses. Iconic Lionsgate series include the multiple Emmy Award®-winning Mad Men, one of the most acclaimed shows in television history, Orange is the New Black, Weeds and Nurse Jackie. The studio’s more than 20,000 title film and television library is one of the largest and most valuable in the world.
Lionsgate acquired a majority stake in leading talent management and production company 3 Arts Entertainment in 2018 and acquired the global entertainment platform eOne from Hasbro in December 2023.
In addition to his leadership of Lionsgate’s corporate management team, Burns has played a key role in the acquisition, production and distribution of some of the studio’s most successful films, including the Academy Award®-winning Best Picture Crash, the Academy Award® -winning Monster’s Ball and the Oscar®-nominated Precious.
Burns served for nine years as Managing Director and Head of Office at Prudential Securities’ Los Angeles Investment Banking Office from 1991 to March 2000, specializing in raising equity within the media and entertainment industry. Prior to joining Prudential, he spent nine years at Shearson/American Express (now Morgan Stanley) in New York and Los Angeles.
Burns graduated with a B.S. degree from Arizona State University and received his M.B.A. from the John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, where he serves on the distinguished Board of Advisors.
Mr. Burns has been a director of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) since 2014.