ViacomCBS renews talks to buy Miramax stake

ViacomCBS and Miramax

Less than two weeks after Viacom and CBS merged to form ViacomCBS, a report from Variety says that two “insiders” told them it’s looking to acquire a stake in Miramax.

Earlier this year, Viacom and Paramount Pictures were in negotiations to acquire the Miramax film library, but those negotiations were abruptly called off in November after the companies could not agree on terms. Now, according to the Variety report, a new deal could see ViacomCBS become an equity investor with “some kind of commercial relationship in which it would make movies and shows based on Miramax intellectual property.” Variety says such a deal would be worth a low nine figures sum.

A deal for Miramax IP could play into pretty much all of ViacomCBS’s key strategies. New content based on Miramax hits such as Pulp Fiction, Clerks, Scream, and Strictly Ballroom could bolster their direct-to-consumer offering on Pluto TV and CBS All Access, as well as bulk up the offering to advertisers across multiple channels. According to the Variety piece, Miramax films are one of the largest collections of titles available, and has drawn interest from several media companies including Lionsgate and Spyglass Media Group. Miramax’s current owners, beIN Media Group out of Qatar, have reportedly offered a stake in the company amid increased demands for assets to support the rapidly-growing streaming market.

Neither Miramax nor ViacomCBS commented for the Variety article, although Variety does note that at the UBS conference last week, CEO Bob Bakish said, “We don’t see any asset on the market or coming to market in the near term that we have to own, [...] we will approach it in the way we have traditionally approached Viacom, which is very specific opportunities tightly linked to strategy that will only pursue if they’re value-creative to our shareholders.”