Dreamworks' Deal -- A Geffen Ploy?

The report that DreamWorks was close to a deal with Mumbai-based Reliance in which the Indian company would provide $500-600 million in equity financing to reestablish the film company as an independent studio may have been planted by DreamWorks principal David Geffen, according to a report in TheDeal.com. The report, which was given additional currency when it was picked up by the New York Times, quoted an unnamed studio veteran as saying, "This is what [Geffen] does really well" and said that any deal is at least eight weeks away from being finalized and the talks were made public in order to stir up interest from interlopers. Even the fact that it appeared first in the Wall Street Journal may have been orchestrated to catch the eye of the newspaper's owner, Rupert Murdoch. TheDeal.com's source observed that such a tactic would be "classic Geffen," and similar to one he pulled off in 2005 after it was reported that Universal had offered $1.5 billion for DreamWorks. (Paramount then bid $1.6 billion and got it.)


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