STUDIO BID IS ALIVE
Weinstein talks a go
The $500 million bid by a group headed by Maria Contreras-Sweet to buy The Weinstein Company may not be dead yet, The Post has learned — despite a sweeping lawsuit filed Sunday by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
“The situation is fluid,” said one source close to the AG’s office.
Contreras-Sweet had walked away from a possible deal on Sunday after she learned Schneiderman was going to insist on having a board of directors’ monitor installed at the embattled TWC.
But with the Contreras-Sweet group the best hope for a sale of TWC, the bidder and the AG have been in contact about reviving the deal, according to sources on both sides.
In addition, Gloria Allred, the lawyer representing a number of the victims of alleged sexual harassment by TWC cofounder Harvey Weinstein, on Monday issued another vote of confidence for the Contreras-Sweet bid.
“The only clear pathway to truly helping victims, many of whom I represent, is to allow this deal to proceed,” Allred said. “I have worked with Maria’s team and they are 100 percent committed to helping victims. That is why I unequivocally support their deal.”
The AG on Sunday filed a 38-page lawsuit charging Harvey Weinstein, his cofounder brother Bob Weinstein and TWC with violating workplace safety protection by fostering a gender-based hostile work environment.
Harvey Weinstein used a team of “wing women” to scout other women as potential sex partners for himself, the suit claims. A limo driver was said to always carry a stash of Viagra and condoms in case they were needed by Harvey for his trysts.
Schneiderman was also said to have a problem with Chief Operating Officer David Glasser as a potential post-sale chief executive. Glasser did not do enough to investigate complaints against Harvey Weinstein or to protect TWC employees from the executive, according to the AG’s suit — which does not name Glasser but refers to him by title.
While TWC would seek to retain as much of the creative talent at the 200-employee company as possible, Glasser — or anyone else — has not been tapped to lead the studio, one source close to Contreras-Sweet said.
Contreras-Sweet, the head of the Small Business Administration under President Obama, has promised to set aside $50 million — using the profits of five future movies — for TWC’s alleged victims. That would be in addition to the $20 million in insurance that the company carries.
A majority of the board of a new TWC will be women, Contreras-Sweet promised. Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos. and Lantern Asset Management are minority backers of the bid.
Under the bid sheet, the prospective new buyers would be purchasing the assets for about $275 million and assuming about $225 million in existing debt.