Madison Square Garden Co. said it has completed the planned split of its sports and entertainment properties into two separate publicly traded companies – Madison Square Garden and MSG Networks.
MSG announced plans for the split last October. As part of the deal, Madison Square Garden now includes entertainment venues like the Madison Square Garden arena, Beacon Theater, Radio City Music Hall, The Forum in Los Angeles, the Chicago Theater and others and professional sports teams the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and the New York Liberty and trades on the New York stock exchange under the symbol “MSG”. MSG Networks, which trades on the NYSE under the symbol “MSGN” includes regional sports networks MSG and MSG Plus.
Officially, Madison Square Garden was spun out of the former Madison Square Garden, with the remaining entity renamed MSG Networks.
The split was made as a tax-free distribution, with shareholders of the former Madison Square Garden Co. receiving one share of MSG for every three shares of Madison Square Garden Co, they hold. That distribution was completed on Sept. 30.
MSG Networks debuted on the NYSE on Oct. 1, opening at $20.15 per share. The stock was down about 11% ($2.15 each) in early trading, priced at $17.85 per share. MSG stock was priced at $159.63 each in early trading Thursday, up 5.7% ($8.63 per share).
