Co-Owner Ron Tutor Sells His Stake in Miramax

The construction magnate backs out as Miramax struggles to make its library-only strategy work

Construction billionaire Ron Tutor has sold his minority stake in the Miramax film library to co-owner Qatar Investment Authority, a person with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap on Monday.

Tutor, QIA and Tom Barrack's Colony Capital bought the library for $663 million from Disney in 2010, beating out a group headed by former Miramax chiefs Bob and Harvey Weinstein and backed by supermarket mogul Ron Burkle.

Also read: Miramax Co-Owner Ron Tutor Looking to Sell Film Assets (Updated)

Since then, Miramax has made a series of distribution deals and licensed films from its library — including "Pulp Fiction" and "The English Patient" — to Netflix, Hulu, Love Films and Net Movies. It also sealed several deals for DVD and Blu-Ray distribution. But by design Miramax has not developed or produced any films, banking instead on its ability to leverage its library assets.

Also read: Mike Lang Resigns as CEO of Miramax

Miramax's future has been uncertain since chief CEO Mike Lang stepped down last year, after Colony failed in a bid to acquire Summit Entertainment and merge it with Miramax. Steve Schoch has served as interim chief executive since Lang's exit.

In an interview with TheWrap in 2011, Richard Nanula, a principal at Colony Capital, insisted the library was the key to the company's business.

Tutor, who is chief executive at the construction company Tutor-Perini, did not return calls for comment Monday. Neither did Colony Capital or QIA.

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