Disney sells Miramax
The Walt Disney Company has announced the sale of its Miramax film division for about $660m to a group of private equity investors. Disney has owned Miramax since 1993 when it bought the firm from Hollywood heavyweights Harvey and Bob Weinstein. The Weinstein brothers named the film company after their parents Miriam and Max and had attempted to buy Miramax back from Disney but were unsuccessful.
The new investors are a company called Filmyard and include construction magnate Ron Tutor and investment firm Colony Capital. Disney has been negotiating with potential buyers for months to sell the division, which has made films such as Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting and Shakespeare in Love.
“Although we are very proud of Miramax’s many accomplishments, our current strategy for Walt Disney Studios is to focus on the development of great motion pictures under the Disney, Pixar and Marvel brands,” Disney’s chief executive Robert Iger said.
Disney wants to concentrate on these family-orientated divisions, which produce popular films such as Toy Story, that also come with highly profitable merchandising opportunities.
Earlier this week, Disney bought the social gaming developer Playdom so it remains to see what they do with that but one thing that can never be denied is that Disney has an amazing ability to sell family films and all the merchandise that goes along with it.
