From the last 6 questions at the end, you can choose which one to answer.
Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company
It’s by now been widely reported that Harvey Weinstein, the co-founder and co-chairman of The
Weinstein Company, has been accused of many cases of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
These charges date back decades, and involve both celebrity and aspiring actors and models as
victims. The intent of this exercise is not to pass judgement on these horrific individual cases,
but rather to understand the responsibility of the company that seemingly turned a blind eye to
decades of sexually predatory behavior by its founder and leader.
Miramax & Disney
Harvey and his brother Bob founded their first independent movie studio in 1979, which was
named Miramax. That company was very successful from an artistic standpoint, producing
numerous award winning films. Little is known about the company’s financial performance.
In 1993, the Weinstein brothers sold Miramax to Disney Film Studios for $60 million. They
stayed on as business unit executives after the sale, until 2005, when according to Disney they
were fired. The Weinsteins say they quit. Michael Eisner, then Disney CEO, reports that
Harvey was fired for being a “bully”. Disney sold Miramax in 2010 for $660 million to a group
of independent investors.
The Weinstein Company
The success of Miramax as an independent film studio did not carry over to The Weinstein
Company. TWC has not had the blockbuster movies that were expected by many, and their
libraries of films and television shows has not generated as much cash as expected.
TWC flirted with bankruptcy, and has done a number of financial transactions to keep the
operation funded, including a financing led by Goldman Sachs. Once employing about 150