The Weinstein Co. is laying off more than 20 employees in both New York City and Los Angeles as it heads toward finalizing its $289 million sale to Lantern Capital.
Those being let go work in marketing, distribution and PR, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Before the pink slips, about 70 people worked at TWC, which was never able to recover from Harvey Weinstein’s demise.
At the time of Weinstein’s downfall last fall, some 140 people worked at the indie film and television company.
The layoffs were revealed Wednesday, hours after a bankruptcy judge in Delaware gave final approval of the sale to the Texas-based Lantern.
The deal cleared a final hurdle late last week after TWC reached an agreement with unsecured creditors, as well as reducing the sale price from the original $310 million that Lantern agreed to pay.
On Tuesday, Lantern co-founders Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic announced they have engaged entertainment industry veterans Steve Beeks, Alexa Platt and Lauren Zalaznick as consultants.
Beeks was previously co-president and co-COO of Lionsgate Entertainment, while Platt was CFO at the now-defunct Open Road Films. Zalaznick was formerly an executive vp at NBCUniversal.
Going forward, it is possible that Lantern could opt to release movies via a third party, reducing overhead.
