美国国家公共电台 NPR Delaware Judge To Decide Who Gets Weinstein Company's Film And TV Assets

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Sabotage¹, sexual assault and Oscar-winning films are not the usual stuff of bankruptcy² proceedings³, but all of those came to the forefront in the case of The Weinstein Company, formerly⁴ owned by the disgraced Hollywood producer and currently held by, among others, his brother, Bob, at least until a few hours ago. That's when a bankruptcy judge in Delaware decided⁵ who will buy the company.

NPR's Andrew Limbong is at the courthouse in Wilmington. He joins us now. And, Andrew, I understand that this had a rather large audience for a bankruptcy hearing.

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE⁶: Yeah, a lot more people in the audience than usual for your, you know, run-of-the-mill bankruptcy hearings. There were about a hundred lawyers in the room, if not more. There had to be a special runoff room put aside because they ended up running out of seats. You know, there were just tons of lawyers, lawyers representing banks and debtors⁷, lawyers representing The Weinstein Company and potential buyers, lawyers representing movie studios and a committee that included victims of Harvey Weinstein's, you know, alleged⁸ sexual abuse and lawyers including people representing Eminem.

And so after a few hours of back-and-forth between different lawyers, Judge Mary Walrath approved the sale to Lantern Capital Partners. They're a Texas-based private equity⁹ firm, and the price tag was about 310 million in cash minus some hundred million in liabilities.

CORNISH: And Lantern was the group that The Weinstein Company had wanted to buy them. The judge ignored another last-minute bid. Is that right?

LIMBONG: Yeah, so The Weinstein Company announced Lantern Capital as the winning bidders¹⁰ last week. Lantern doesn't have any experience in movies. They're more like a shipping¹¹ company. But it really - you know, all of this wasn't up to The Weinstein Company. It was up to the judge to decide whether this was a legitimate¹² sale.

There was a different last-minute bid from Inclusion Media. That's led by Howard Kagan. He's a Broadway producer. He had the backing of a group of Harvey Weinstein's victims who have filed a class-action lawsuit¹³ against Weinstein. And that's because Kagan's bid included a victims' compensation fund, which the Lantern bid does not. It's very important to note. But in the end, the judge declared that Lantern had the best shot at protecting The Weinstein Company's assets.

CORNISH: What about those assets? What exactly is left, and how did the new owners go about protecting them?

LIMBONG: The company holds a library of movies. You know, that includes "The King's Speech" and "Silver Linings¹⁴ Playbook" and some TV shows like "Project Runway." They're essentially¹⁵ protecting themselves by distancing themselves from the Weinstein name because the Weinstein name is pretty toxic¹⁶ in Hollywood these days.

CORNISH: Now, what does all this mean for the women who were victims of Harvey Weinstein?

LIMBONG: For this very specific and particular business aspect of the Weinstein story, not much. Like I said, the victims' compensation fund - there is not one included in this bid. For what it's worth, Lantern Capital says that they, you know, will try to foster a more inclusive workplace. You know, Harvey Weinstein was fired from the company last October after dozens of women came forward to accuse him of rape¹⁷ and sexual assault and other sorts of misconduct. And he's still the target of multiple criminal investigations¹⁸, which is a whole separate deal than what's going on here.

CORNISH: That's NPR's Andrew Limbong in Wilmington, Del. Andrew, thank you.

LIMBONG: Thanks, Audie.

1 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

2 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

3 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

4 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 debtors   

n.债务人，借方( debtor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Never in a debtors' prison? 从没有因债务坐过牢么？ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

8 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

9 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

10 bidders   

n.出价者，投标人( bidder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Bidders should proceed only if they intend on using a PayPal account to complete payment. Bidders的唯一形式，应继续只当他们在使用贝宝帐户，以完成付款打算。 来自互联网
• The other bidders for the contract complained that it had not been a fair contest. 其他竞标人抱怨说该合同的竞标不公平。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

12 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

13 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

14 linings   

n.衬里( lining的名词复数 )；里子；衬料；组织

参考例句：

• a pair of leather gloves with fur linings 一双毛皮衬里的皮手套
• Many of the garments have the customers' name tags sewn into the linings. 这些衣服有很多内衬上缝有顾客的姓名签。 来自辞典例句

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

17 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

18 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。