You are viewing the archive: “Moguls”

UPDATE: Disney Denies Claims It Is Close to Selling ABC

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 26, 2010 @ 10:59am PDTTags: Courts, Finance, Law, Moguls, Networks, Studios
Nellie Andreeva

UPDATE 11 AM: The Walt Disney Co. just issued the following statement relating to the complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney on May 26 in New York:

The Walt Disney Company has been fully cooperating with this investigation. The reference in the complaint to conversations regarding the ABC Network were and are false.

PREVIOUS 10:15 AM: In what is turning out to be a pretty bizarre story, an insider trading arrest may hold clues to Disney’s plans for selling ABC. A potential sale had been rumored for awhile and as recently as March Disney CEO Bob Iger said that “there are no guarantees in terms of what will remain part of our company and what will not” when asked whether Disney will sell the broadcast network. But now a criminal complaint and a SEC civil suit stemming from the Wednesday arrest of a Disney employee by the FBI in Los Angeles alleges such plans may be more advanced than previously thought.

According to a CNBC report, the legal complaints state that Bonnie Hoxie, secretary to the head of Disney’s corporate communications, and her boyfriend Yonni Sebbag, allegedly offered hedge funds information about Disney’s quarterly earnings report, due out in May. The most intriguing part of the couple’s claims: that Iger was in “serious and advanced negotiations” with two private equity firms to sell ABC. According to CNBC, the two were arrested after attempting to sell the information to undercover FBI agents, for which they allegedly accepted a $15,000 payment. As for ABC itself, it’s expected to go for $6B-$7B if put on the market. UPDATED: In yet another bizarre twist to the story, Hoxie allegedly wanted the money to buy “a $700 McCartney handbag and Stella McCartney shoes,” according to the complaint.

Comments (13)

Lower Bid? Reluctant TWC Board? Implosion Of Miramax Deal Takes On Rashomon Complexity

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday May 26, 2010 @ 6:12am PDTTags: Finance, Moguls, Studios
Mike Fleming

ron_burkle.03UPDATE WRITE-THRU: Why did Disney’s sale of Miramax Films to Ron Burkle and Bob and Harvey Weinstein implode at the last moment? It’s become a real Rashomon. One version is that as lawyers put the finishing touches on a deal worth … Read More »

Comments (11)

UPDATE: Ron Burkle & Harvey Weinstein Insist Still “Working Towards” Miramax Deal — Despite Disney Telling Media It’s Dead

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday May 21, 2010 @ 5:48pm PDTTags: Deals, LA Times, Media, Moguls, Studios
Mike Fleming

UPDATE 5:45 PM: Ron Burkle and Harvey Weinstein just issued this joint statement in response to Disney insiders telling the media (including Deadline) that the Miramax deal with them is “dead”:

“The Weinstein Brothers, The Weinstein Company and Ron Burkle are all working towards

… Read More »

Comments 29

Carl Icahn Extends $7 Offer To Lionsgate Shareholders, But Is Support Fading?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday May 21, 2010 @ 12:21pm PDTTags: Finance, Moguls, Studios
Mike Fleming

icahnCarl Icahn has extended his offer to Lionsgate shareholders to 8 PM on June 1, but his campaign seems to be losing steam. He had 7 million shares, or 6.3% of the company tendered two weeks ago, but now is down … Read More »

Comments (6)

Lionsgate Announces Talks With Icahn

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday May 17, 2010 @ 12:22pm PDTTags: Courts, Finance, Moguls, Regulation, Studios

BREAKING NEWS! The studio just filed a 14D-9 a few minutes ago announcing that “settlement discussions” with Carl Icahn have begun. A sources tells me that the corporate raider/shareholder activist came to Lionsgate “and wanted to talk. LG has a fiduciary responsibility to listen.  He is their second largest shareholder and they will … Read More »

Comments (7)

NBC CANCELS ‘LAW & ORDER’ FLAGSHIP: Dick Wolf Furious That Net Reneged On Deal And May Take Show To TNT; Should NBC Reconsider?

By NIKKI FINKE AND NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 13, 2010 @ 3:55pm PDTTags: Moguls, Networks, Producers, TV, TV Shows

BREAKING NEWS! KEEP REFRESHING! 3:30 PM UPDATE!

nbc-logo-rgb-pos2.thumbnailHere’s the latest news on this fast-moving story. A deal was in place if NBC picked up the Law & Order flagship for a 21st season consisting of 16 episodes. But insiders say Dick … Read More »

Comments 318

Lionsgate Shareholders OK Poison Pill (Which Studio Can’t Use Against Icahn)

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday May 12, 2010 @ 9:50am PDTTags: Finance, Moguls, Studios

feltheimer-200This is little more than a PR maneuver by Lionsgate. Since both a British Columbia regulatory commission as well as a British Columbia Appeals Court have ruled that the studio can’t use a poison pill defense against Carl Icahn’s attempted takeover. … Read More »

Comments (2)

Jeff Zucker Launches Charm Offensive…

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday May 11, 2010 @ 11:17am PDTTags: Media, Moguls, Studios, TV

zucker punchedWithin the next hour, Jeff Zucker will be sitting down with Los Angeles-based showbiz journalists for one of his annual off-the-record sessions. But the NBCU chief plans on demonstrating he’s a new and supposedly improved Zucker. A nicer Zucker. And not … Read More »

Comments 50

Bob Berney Flies To Cannes Amid Rumors; More Insight Into Why He Exited Apparition

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 11, 2010 @ 9:31am PDTTags: Distribution, Finance, Indie, Moguls, Rumors, Studios
Mike Fleming

UPDATE: The rumors keep flying about where Bob Berney will land. Deadline has already posted Team Harvey’s denial that the ex-Apparitions chief is headed to the Weinsteins. At least not yet. (Berney Exit Blindsides Apparition) Now the latest chatter is that Berney … Read More »

Comments (4)

UPDATE: Berney Exit Blindsides Apparition

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday May 10, 2010 @ 9:01pm PDTTags: Indie, Moguls, Movies, Rumors, Studios
Mike Fleming


apparition_logo

UPDATE: Insiders are denying the rumor that Bob Berney is going to work with Harvey and Bob Weinstein. I’m told there haven’t been any talks — yet.  Meanwhile, I’ve learned that Berney has the ability to take key staffers with him wherever he’s … Read More »

Comments 72

Miramax Deal To Be Announced At Cannes

By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday May 10, 2010 @ 1:21pm PDTTags: Deals, Finance, Moguls, Studios

miramax_logo_blackEXCLUSIVE: We hear the deal to put the Miramax name and library under new ownership is done. But the reason there is no announcement is that Harvey Weinstein wants to make a publicity splash at the Cannes Film Festival which kicks off Wednesday. [… Read More »

Comments (12)

PR Battle Now Over Lionsgate Shareholders

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday May 10, 2010 @ 1:15pm PDTTags: Finance, Moguls, P.R., Studios

Today, Lionsgate issued a statement that its shareholders had “rejected” the $7 a share tender offer by Carl Icahn to acquire up to all of Lionsgate’s common shares in his bid for a hostile takeover of the studio. But that’s not new. We knew that he had not received the … Read More »

Comments (1)

CNN: Is This China’s Harvey Weinstein?

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday May 9, 2010 @ 6:40pm PDTTags: Foreign, Moguls, Movies, Producers, Studios, TV, Video

Meet Wang Zhongjun, China’s 50-year old film and television mogul, 1/2 of Huayi Brothers Media which he founded with his youngest brother Wang Zhonglei in 1994. (Ergo, CNN’s Harvey Weinstein comparison.) Originally doing advertising commissions, the company morphed into a film production company in 1998 and has grown to become … Read More »

Comments (10)

UPDATE: Lionsgate Loses Poison Pill Appeal; What Defense Against Icahn Is Left?

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday May 7, 2010 @ 11:54am PDTTags: Courts, Finance, Law, Moguls, Regulation, Studios

UPDATE: Drama, drama, drama! (And fast drama.) First, the British Columbia Court of Appeals today granted lionsgate_logoLionsgate’s request to reexamine the British Columbia Securities Commission’s decision to stop the studio from using a poison pill defense against Carl Icahn’s attempted hostile … Read More »

Comments (2)

MGM Creditors Auditioning Moguls?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday May 7, 2010 @ 7:33am PDTTags: Actors, Finance, Moguls, Movies, Studios
Mike Fleming

Bloomberg.com is reporting that MGM creditors are canvassing Hollywood execs to run a studio the creditors would keep rather than sell off at fire sale price. The report lists Peter Chernin, Jonathan Dolgen, Spyglass partners Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber as execs who’ve met recently. Joe Roth, Rick Sands … Read More »

Comments 47

Fly On The Wall At Universal Commissary

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday May 6, 2010 @ 6:08pm PDTTags: Directors, Moguls, Movies, Studios

UPDATE: First, Steven Spielberg spent an hour at lunch today with Jeffrey Katzenberg at the Universal commissary. Then Spielberg walked over and sat down at the table where Jeff Zucker and Adam Fogelson were talking after having meals with others. Look, if I have to explain the backstories among these players, … Read More »

Comments 26

Icahn Extends Lionsgate Offer By 10 Days

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday April 30, 2010 @ 9:21pm PDTTags: Finance, Moguls, Studios

icahn lgToday was supposed to be the deadline for Carl Icahn’s $7 per share tender offer made to Lionsgate stockholders. But stockholders were cold to the proposal: only 6.55 million shares have been tendered so far. I don’t think the … Read More »

Comments (3)

ICAHN: New Lionsgate Numbers “A Sham”; If No 51%, Might Extend Tender Offer; “Probably” Wage Proxy Fight For Studio

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday April 29, 2010 @ 11:09am PDTTags: Finance, Moguls, Studios, Video


Here we go again! (See video below) Just now, on CNBC, Carl Icahn responded to Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns on-air boasts that studio management “crushed the numbers” and its current model is working. “The information Lionsgate is giving us is a sham,” … Read More »

Comments (6)

Lionsgate’s Michael Burns Taunts Raider Carl Icahn: “We Crushed The Numbers”

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday April 29, 2010 @ 10:53am PDTTags: Finance, Moguls, Studios, Video

Comments (0)
More Deadline | Hollywood »
« Previous Deadline | Hollywood