Building a portfolio of faith-based film and television shows, Angel Studios, which has 1.5 million members of its Angel Guild program, has completed a merger agreement to become a publicly traded company.
The company, whose biggest hit is the religious thriller “Sound of Freedom,” said on Wednesday it closed its business combination with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Southport Acquisition Corp. SPAC trading values total entities with a pro-forma enterprise value of approximately $1.6 billion. SPACS allows businesses to raise and publish funds without launching traditional IPOs that take more time.
The total company will operate as Angel Studios Inc., and the Class A common stock shares will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the morning of September 11th under the ticker symbol “Angx.”
Co-founder, Chairman and CEO Neil Harmon will continue to lead the merged company. Two of his brothers are also senior executives. Jordan Harmon serves as president, and Jeffrey Harmon is Chief Content Officer.
The company says it will promote value-driven storytelling.
“This is a huge milestone for angels around the world and our over 1.5 million guild members,” Neil Harmon said in a statement. “Our models and technology guide the movement to reconstruct entertainment and empower audiences as virtual co-producers. The guild chooses stories that amplify light and timeless value.
The company is not making any profits. For the first six months of 2025, Angel’s revenues rose nearly tripled to $135 million, but its net loss swelled to $53.3 million (a net loss of $37.4 million year-on-year).
The Angel Guild program generated $101.1 million in cash in the first half of the year. And Angel Guild revenues rose 517% in the second quarter of this year. However, according to the company, the majority of the overall net losses for the first six months of 2025 were due to ongoing marketing costs to increase Angel Guild membership. Angel Guild votes for 1.5 million paying members to choose which movies and TV shows to fund those projects with membership fees.
One of Angel Studios’ biggest hits was “The Chosen,” a television show about the life of Jesus Christ. Last year, Angel lost its line of the series after the arbitrator gave the director of Dallas Jenkins, the founder of five studios for the “chosen” franchise.
So far, Angel Studios has released 36 movies and 21 TV series. Among them is “The Sound of Freedom,” which has earned $250 million at the box office worldwide. The religious thriller starring Jim Kabiesel (The Passion of Christ) is based on the true story of Tim Ballard, a former government agent who embarks on a mission to save children from Colombian sex traffickers. Another notable box office success is the animated film “The King of Kings,” a biblical epic released this spring.
The company claims it has the highest domestic box office average per release of its independent studios from 2023 to 2025 (including photos of A24, Universal focus features and Disney Searchlight photos). The company also produces around 750 original comedy specials as part of its Driver Comedy series.
Upcoming Angel’s theatrical releases include “Server,” starring Michael Chikris (September 19), and “Zero Advertisement,” a December release starring Kabiesel, and directed by Alejandro Monteverde (who also directed “The Sound of Freedom”).
As of June 30, Angel had $28 million in cash equivalents on its balance sheet. The liabilities included $40.1 million of deferred revenues and $29.6 million of its current debt portion.
On September 5, 2025, Angel Studios sold a total of 1,250,000 shares of Class C common stock at $44.00 per share. Under SEC’s Reg A+ rule for small businesses, sales have been added to 40,521 individual investors. And on September 8th, Angel Studios closed its $100 million credit facility at Trinity Capital, an alternative asset manager that Angel uses to further expand the Angel Guild.
Harmon and other Angel Studios executives are scheduled to ring the NYSE closing bell at 4pm on Thursday (September 11) to close the first day of the deal.
Based in Provo, Utah, Angel Studios was originally founded in 2014 as Vidangel. Vidangel runs a “family-friendly” streaming service that filters offensive content from films and was sued by Hollywood Studios for copyright infringement to stream hundreds of films. Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. In 2020, the bankruptcy court approved a $9.9 million settlement with the studio, resurrecting as Angel Studios.
Above: Jim Kabiesel from “Sound of Freedom”
