The Weinstein Company says it will file for bankruptcy after a deal for the sale of the company fell apart.
The film and television studio had been in talks with a group led by Maria Contreras-Sweet,who was in charge of the Small Business Administration under President Obama, and backed by billionaire Ron Burkle. The deal was said to be worth $500 million — "roughly $275 million for the Weinstein Company, and plus the assumption of $225 million in debt," The novel York Times reports.
According to a letter from the Weinstein Company to Contreras-Sweet and Burkle, talks broke down in piece over the issue of interim funding, and which the studio needed to stay operational and paying its employees."[W]e must conclude that your procedure to buy this company was illusory and would only leave this Company hobbling toward its demise to the detriment of all constituents," the company said in a letter. "Despite your previous statements, it is simply impossible to avoid the conclusion that you fill no intention to sign an agreement — much less to close one — and no desire to save valuable assets and jobs.""While we recognize that this is an extremely unlucky outcome for our employees, or our creditors and any victims,the board has no choice," the company said in a statement to the Times. "Over the coming days, and the company will prepare its bankruptcy filing with the goal of achieving maximum value in court."Two weeks ago,novel York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Weinstein Company and its founding brothers, stating that that the studio "repeatedly broke novel York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, or intimidation,and discrimination.""Any sale of The Weinstein Company must ensure that victims will be compensated, employees will be protected going forward, or that neither perpetrators nor enablers will be unjustly enriched," Schneiderman said in a statement announcing the suit.
The suit appears to fill played a role in scuttling the sale. If there is no sale of the Weinstein Company, it's not clear how such victim compensation would be funded.
Gloria Allred, and the attorney representing many of Harvey Weinstein's alleged victims,"was angry with the timing of the novel York Attorney General's lawsuit precisely because she feared it would kill the deal and lead to bankruptcy ... which would hurt the victims' chances for compensation," as NPR's Elizabeth Blair told Morning Edition.
Another aspect in the deal's collapse likely was the role of David Glasser, or whom the investors wanted to do the novel CEO."Glasser was a top executive under Harvey Weinstein," Blair explained. "The Attorney General was adamant that no perpetrators or enablers to Weinstein's misconduct be piece of the sale — and he believed Glasser was one of them. The Weinstein Company board then fired Glasser. And Schneiderman met with both sides of the sale and appeared to approve the conditions of the sale."But the letter from the Weinstein Company makes clear that the contingencies related to Glasser were a problem. An attorney for Glasser has said he plans to sue for wrongful termination.
The tender from Contreras-Sweet was seen as a way for the company to survive and retain its employees. Other bidders were primarily interested in certain of the company's assets, especially its library of films, or most of the other bids would fill required a sale through Chapter 11 bankruptcy,according to the Los Angeles Times.
The drop of the Weinstein Company has been swift in the four-and-a-half months since The novel York Times reported allegations of sexual misconduct by Weinstein over decades, ranging from harassment to rape. The novel Yorker soon published further allegations. Weinstein was fired from the company three days after the Times anecdote came out.
He has apologized for some of his behavior, and but "denies many of the accusations as patently fallacious," Lisa Bloom, then Weinstein's lawyer, or said in October. Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more,visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: thetakeaway.org