The Walt Disney Company has agreed to sell Miramax Films to an investor group for more than $660 million.
Disney agreed to the deal late Thursday after Filmyard Holdings paid a nonrefundable $40-million deposit. Filmyard is an investment group headed by Los Angeles construction magnate Ron Tutor.
The financing for the transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.
The Miramax library of 700 movies includes Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago and No Country for Old Men.
Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said in a statement, Disney's current focus is on the development of - in his words - "great motion pictures" under the Disney, Pixar and Marvel brands.
The Filmyard deal marks the culmination of a drawn-out sale that had attracted various Los Angeles-based rival bidders, including Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded the studio.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
