Martin Sorrell puts the pressure on Harvey Weinstein
WPP boss Martin Sorrell and his fellow board members at Weinstein Co. have been piling on the pressure on Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein to slim down.
Angry that a deal with British player ITV to sell Weinstein Co.’s TV division for $950 million fell apart earlier this year, they’ve been bearing down on the spendthrift independent filmmaker to get him to make good on their investment.
“Martin takes it personally — taking investor money and not treating it as sacred. He’s very value-oriented,�� said one observer of the current restructuring going on at the 99 Hudson St. headquarters. “He has kept Harvey under tremendous pressure.”
And the pressure is real. While the Hollywood studio is named for the brothers Weinstein, the two own just 46 percent of the company — which means the larger-than-life Harvey does not control the company.
Others, including two longtime backers, ad giant WPP and Goldman Sachs, plus Tarak Ben Ammar, who is a board member of Vivendi and Telecom Italia, along with Fidelity, Wellington and LVMH, hold the purse strings.
The privately held Weinstein Co. has been growing revenue but is only marginally profitable.
Profit has been far less the focus on the core film business, while the TV unit, which houses “Project Runway,” has been the saving grace.
Weinstein Co. just rolled out an Oscar hopeful and will release another before year’s end. “Carol,” a drama about a love affair between two women starring Cate Blanchett, opened Friday and is said to be doing well, and “The Hateful Eight,” a violent thriller from Quentin Tarantino, is set for a Christmas Day debut.
As an example of lavish spending, Tarantino’s film is being released on old-fashioned 70mm celluloid, with Indiewire reporting that Weinstein Co. is footing the $70,000 bill for each theater to get their projectors up and ready.
It’s yet another case of art versus business when it comes to Harvey.
The company does concede there have been discussions.
“The two [the company and the board] are working together and the board has brought the company constructive advice, as any good board does,” said a company spokesperson.
There have however been some concessions that Weinstein Co. is attempting to shrink its costs. The company confirmed it is laying off 50 of its 200 employees. With further changes to come, sources say.
A handful of new board members have arrived with strong financial chops. They include hedge fund kingpin Paul Tudor Jones and family office magnate Dirk Ziff, who had been on the board but stepped down a few years ago, sources tell The Post. Another new director is Harvey’s pal James Dolan, who is a major shareholder in AMC Networks and MSG.
In February, AMC acquired some of the Weinstein Co. library from Goldman Sachs, raising speculation that Weinstein and Dolan might work more closely.
Weinstein’s financial overlords have been pressing to get the TV division back on the block again.
ITV is said to be keeping a close tabs on the proceedings and could return to the table, one source said.
“They have an investor base forcing them to look at selling assets that if left to themselves they wouldn’t sell,” said a source.
“Investors might get their money [back] through selling the assets: IPO the library and the studio, sell the TV assets,” said a person close to the process. “I don’t think anyone is looking to be bought out.”