3 Bidders for MIRAMAX

Three Bidders, and Three Visions, Are Said to Be Competing for Miramax 

 

"what was once Hollywood’s best-known independent film company..."  MIRAMAX is up for bids.

 Last Thursday, this article in NYTIMES wrote about how Walt Disney Company has been "weighing three potentially viable bids for its inactive Miramax Films unit." 

 The three bidders are:

1) all-cash bid of $550 million- brothers Tom, Alec, and Sam Gores, who are independent investors in the entertainment industry. (Sam Gores controls Paradigm- major talent agency)

 2) offer amounting to $600 million- Yucipa Companies, controlled by Ronald W. Burkle WHO ACTUALLY partners with FORMER Miramax owners Bob and Harvey Weinstein who co-founded Miramax in 1979 and later sold it to Disney in 1993. The Weinstein's have previously been considering 'reacquiring the studio'

 3) value near to $700 million is offered by investor David Berstein- Pangea Media Group. Even though this is the highest offer, Bergstein has been "connected to an involuntary bankruptcy"...so it would SEEM that the offer isn't as good as it sounds.

All three offers seem to be close to what Disney was originally wanting to sell the company for, which was $700 million. It started at 12 or so offers, and now is down to these 3. 

The Weinstein Brothers, if they get Miramax, claim that they would NOT merge it with their company, Weinstein Company, but manage it as a "strategic partnership." Weinstein Company hasn't been immensely successful but did really well with "Inglourious Basterds."

Google Finance:

ABOUT MIRAMAX: Independent films get major corporate backing from this company. A subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, the filmed entertainment division of media giant Walt Disney, Miramax Film Corp. is a well-known movie producer that caters to audiences outside the mainstream. Its films have included Adventureland, Doubt, and Happy-Go-Lucky, as well as past Oscar winners The Queen (released in 2006) and No Country for Old Men (2007). Brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein formed Miramax in 1979 and sold it to Disney in 1993. After a falling out with their corporate parent in 2005, the Weinsteins left to form their own production business, The Weinstein Company.

READ the article to find out more details with Weinstein acquiring Miramax. IF they do, once again, own this company, what do you think it will do for Weinstein Co. and do you think they WOULD merge in the end? How would that help their success with the name of Miramax?