Jujamcyn Theatres and International Entertainment Holdings Limited, the parent company of Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), have decided to combine operations, according to a joint announcement on Feb. 14. Financial information was not disclosed, but the transaction is expected to be finalized this year.
The entities are two of the five owners of commercial houses on Broadway, along with the Shubert Organization, the Nederlander Organization and Paramount Group. Jujamcyn owns five theaters: the Al Hirschfeld, August Wilson, Eugene O’Neill, St. James and Walter Kerr. ATG is the landlord for two theaters: the Lyric and the Hudson. The new joint organization, which has not yet been named, will control all seven houses.
Jordan Roth, current president of Jujamcyn, will become the largest individual shareholder of the new company; Roth will sit on the board and serve as creative director. Mark Cornell, current CEO of ATG, will become the CEO of the new venture.
Jujamcyn was founded in 1956 by James H. Binger, who named the company for his three children: Judith, James and Cynthia. Roth joined the company in 2005 as resident producer and became vice president a year later. In 2009, Roth purchased a 50 percent stake in the company and took over as president when then-president Rocco Landesman stepped down to run the National Endowment for the Arts.
British-held company ATG has been operating the Lyric since 2013, via a lease from New 42. In 2015, the organization signed a long-term lease with Millennium & Copthorne Hotels to take over the Hudson.
The transaction to merge the two businesses is subject to regulatory approval and usual closing conditions.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated ATG’s relationship to the Lyric Theatre. This has been corrected.
