Bob and Harvey Weinstein and their financial backer, billionaire Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies, have an exclusive negotiating window to negotiate buying Disney’s Miramax Films division, three sources with knowledge of the situation said.
The Walt Disney Co was seeking about $700 million for Miramax, sources said earlier this week. The Weinsteins and Yucaipa are offering $625 million, the New York Times reported on Friday, for the shuttered studio with a library of more than 600 films, including “Pulp Fiction.”
The window temporarily sidelines competing bidders, one of the sources told Reuters. A Weinstein spokeswoman declined to comment, and officials with Disney did not return calls.
Film executive David Bergstein said he is advising construction magnate Ron Tutor and other investors who had offered $650 million. Financiers Alec and Tom Gores are behind another offer and are being advised by their brother, Sam Gores, who heads the Paradigm Talent Agency.
• Read the full Reuters story.
• Read the full Wall Street Journal story.
