Investment Group Buys L.A. Visual Effects Studio
Digital Domain
, the pioneering Venice visual effects studio whose computer wizardry created scenes for such films as “Titanic” and “The Day After Tomorrow,” has been sold to a Florida-based investment group that includes director Michael Bay and former NFL great Dan Marino, the Los Angeles Times reported. Wyndcrest Holdings, based in Jupiter, Fla., paid about $35 million, said one person familiar with the transaction, who asked not to be named for confidentiality reasons. The sale closed last week, and Digital Domain’s staff was told Monday.
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Second Private-Equity Group to Bid for Univision
A second group of bidders for
Univision Communications Inc.
was taking final form Monday, presaging a fight among private-equity groups to take control of the dominant U.S. Spanish-language television broadcaster, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last week, Mexican media company Grupo Televisa SA, which provides much of the programming for Univision, said it had formed a bidding group with four private-equity firms and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, a Televisa stockholder. Now a rival bidding group has sprung up, comprising the private-equity firms Texas Pacific Group Inc., Thomas H. Lee Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners LLC and Providence Equity Partners Inc. This second group will seek to portray itself to the Univision board as more likely to complete the acquisition, because U.S. limits on foreign ownership of media companies may complicate any bid involving Televisa.
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WB-UPN Merger a Blow to Minorities
The recent merging of the UPN and WB networks into the CW network will contribute to a significant decline in women and racial minority writers for television, according to preliminary findings released Monday by the Writers Guild of America, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The guild, which will release its complete 2006 Hollywood writers report this fall, said its advance TV data focusing on staffing for the upcoming 2006-07 season was grim for women who remain underrepresented on TV staffs by a 2-1 margin even though they make up 51 percent of the U.S. population. More than half of the ethnic minority writers (63.1 percent) are African-American and continued to be heavily concentrated at the now-defunct UPN. Of the remaining minority writers, 19.4 percent were Hispanic and 17.5 percent Asian.
Producer Faces 10 Years in TV Scam
A Hollywood producer has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and income tax evasion in connection with a bogus television production about the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that he used to swindle millions of dollars from dozens of investors, according to federal court documents filed Monday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Under the plea agreement, Joseph Medawar faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, up to $9 million in government fines and $3.4 million in restitution to those who were defrauded by his scam. Authorities alleged that the millions of dollars collected from investors supported a lavish lifestyle for Medawar and the woman billed as the show’s lead actress, Alison Heruth.
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IRA Swaps Could Cost U.S. Billions in Tax Revenue
President Bush is scheduled to sign into law tomorrow an extraordinary deal for high-income people with retirement savings accounts, the New York Times reports. By paying $1 in income taxes before the taxes are due, these investors may be able to avoid future taxes equivalent to $3.50. The deal is a one-time opportunity in 2010 for anyone to convert a conventional individual retirement account, where taxes are deferred until money is withdrawn, into a Roth IRA, where investment gains are tax-free. One expert, the first of what is expected to be a herd promoting Roth plans, is showing how modest sums put into Roths can produce an enormous bounty over time. Those who do not take advantage of the opportunity to roll money into a Roth may think about the deal differently. The tax savings, like all of the Bush tax cuts, would be financed with federal borrowing, adding to the government’s interest expense.
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Move Grows to Cut Ties to Sudan
Trustees of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System on Monday barred investments in nine multinational corporations doing business with the Sudanese government, the Sacramento Bee reports. CalPERS’ move, while largely symbolic, nevertheless adds fuel to a growing nationwide Sudan divestment campaign to protest the mass killings in the Darfur region of oil-rich Sudan. While CalPERS has no holdings in the nine companies, experts and activists say the decision by the $208 billion fund puts red flags on these companies for other institutional investors. Last month, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System took steps to sever holdings in the African county in which ethnic violence has left more than 200,000 Sudanese people dead and millions homeless.
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