Why ViacomCBS Is Making a Play for Miramax
On Dec. 10, Variety reported that ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC) (NASDAQ: VIACA) had restarted talks to take a potential equity stake in Miramax, the production company and distributor behind many widely regarded indie films from the 1990s such as Pulp Fiction, Clerks!, Shakespeare in Love, The Crying Game and about 700 other titles. Miramax had originally been founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 1979, but was sold to Disney in 1993. Disney then sold Miramax to a consortium of media companies in 2010. Today, Miramax is owned by BeIN Media Group, a Qatar-based international TV network for sports and entertainment.
Miramax had been rumored to have been "in play" for much of this year, with Viacom, Lions Gate, and private company Spyglass Media as potential bidders. However, every suitor eventually walked away, with none willing to pay the prices being asked, even for Miramax's extensive film library. Viacom was the last to bow out, just in November.
However, now that the CBS and Viacaom merger has been completed, it seems as if the merged company under CEO Bob Bakish is interested in Miramax's intellectual property again -- though not exactly in the same way that it was before.
Source Fool.com
