NEW YORK — The Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it agreed to sell its Miramax Films to an investor group for about $660 million, ending a 17-year association with the studio and a six-month bidding process.
Miramax’s Oscar-laden film library has more than 700 titles, including My Left Foot (1989), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Good Will Hunting (1997).
But Disney had been looking to sell Miramax amid a studio overhaul because it no longer resonated with its other family-centric studio units such as Pixar and Marvel.
The label was founded in 1979 by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who named it after their parents, Miriam and Max. It was sold to Disney for $80 million in 1993, and the brothers stayed on as managers.
But the duo left in 2005 to found The Weinstein Co. after years of troubled relations with Disney and a public spat over Michael Moore’s 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which Disney refused to distribute.
Disney signed an agreement late Thursday with Filmyard Holding, an investor group led by construction magnate and Hollywood outsider Ronald Tutor. Other investors include Colony Capital LLC, a real-estate investment group, and its CEO Tom Barrack.
Tutor and his partners put down a nonrefundable deposit of $40 million to Disney on Thursday. Disney said the deal could close as soon as Sept. 10.
Information for this article was contributed by Ashley Heher of The Associated Press.
Business, Pages 26 on 07/31/2010