By Connie Thiessen
Aircraft Pictures has bought back a majority of its shares from Corus Entertainment.
The Toronto-based production company’s co-founders Anthony Leo and Andrew Rosen have been returned as its sole shareholders.
Corus purchased a majority stake in the independent scripted content company in 2022 as part of a plan to accelerate its expansion into the global content business. Aircraft is best known for Netflix and StackTV after school coming-of-age drama Geek Girl, award-winning Canadian kids’ series Holly Hobbie, and 2017 Oscar-nominated animated feature The Breadwinner.
The share repurchase comes as Corus continues its focus on cost-cutting, which includes completion of a 25 per cent workforce reduction by the end of August.
That’s encompassed the elimination of a number of positions at its kids content producer and distributor Nelvana, where all development activities at the studio are paused. Corus restructured its Original Content leadership team in January.
Corus shares were trading up slightly on the TSX on Tuesday afternoon at 10 cents.
