Harvey Weinstein Wants To Get Paid
You might think that alleged sexual predator Harvey Weinstein is not in a position to bargain. Facing nearly 100 women accusing him of everything from sexual harassment to outright rape—some of whom he may have had occasion to sic spies on—you might think he’d do whatever he could to put one headache, the future of the company he helped build and which his behavior has single-handedly destroyed, behind him. You might even think that, given his nine-figure fortune, money would not be an issue. And you might have assumed that Thomas Barrack, the private equity billionaire looking to bail out and then buy The Weinstein Company, wouldn’t mind if some of his money ended up with Harvey. After all, he didn’t mind giving a whole bunch of money to two other accused sexual deviants. Alas, like Goldman Sachs, even Barrack finds Weinstein too toxic to be associated with.
After disagreeing on price, Colony Capital, the private equity firm run by Thomas J. Barrack Jr., ended talks with the boutique studio to buy some or all of its assets, according to two people briefed on the negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the process was private….
The acquisition effort had also broken down, in part because of Colony’s desire to structure any purchase in a way that would not enrich Mr. Weinstein, according to the people briefed on the matter. Mr. Weinstein, who has denied “any allegations of nonconsensual sex,” was fired by the Weinstein Company on Oct. 8 but retains a roughly 20 percent ownership stake in the studio.
Thomas Barrack’s Colony Capital Ends Bid for Weinstein Studio [NYT]