I don't think it was ever disclosed exactly how much Michael Eisner agreed to pay MGM to license the use of the historic film companies name for Disney's MGM Studios.
We do know that the original agreement was for a little over 20 years and that MGM sued Disney back in the late 80's over the use of their name in association with a real working studio in Florida built before the MGM Studios Park opened in 1989.
Now it appears that MGM is in financial trouble. According to a Wall Street Journal article, MGM is eyeing a $500 million dollar line of credit that they helped secure for United Artists. UA is 2/3 owned by MGM and with the recent departure of the MGM CEO, apparently there is some question about who the company belongs too. Even Tom Cruise is messed up in this one if you can believe that!
Apparently MGM has about $3.7 billion to repay in 2012, but they have lost money in the last two fiscal years and have a pretty large interest payment on that mountain of debt.
Wonder if they would like to put their name back on a little theme park in Florida for a contract price again?
I doubt it, but the company that brought us Gone With the Wind and a few of the memorable scenes in the great movie ride is in for a rough ride apparently.
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Sadly, the studio of the grand lion ceased to exist in 2005, when they were bought out by Sony. From what I recall, the vast majority of studio staff was let go at this time, and the history of the studio fell by the wayside under new ownership.
Yeah, the real issue here is United Artists, which Tom Cruise and a few others helped prop up with much neede cash not too long ago. Unfortunatly, MGM holds 2/3 of UA, and while it's true Sony lead the consortium to buy MGM, I don't think they own it in the sense of a wholly owned subsidary. Probably more like partial ownership or even just stock ownership in the private holding company, which keeps Sony from being responsible directly for the debts of the company.
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