MGM-Pathé Communications
| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Movie studio |
| Fate | Foreclosure |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Founder | Giancarlo Parretti |
| Defunct | 1992 |
| Headquarters |
Los Angeles County, California United States |
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Key people
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Giancarlo Parretti (MGM-Pathé, 1990–1991) Alan Ladd, Jr. (MGM-Pathé, 1991–1993) Frank Mancuso, Sr. (MGM/UA, 1993–1999) Michael Marcus (MGM, 1993–1996) John Calley (UA, 1993–1996) |
| Products |
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MGM-Pathé Communications was an American movie production company that operated in Los Angeles County, California from 1990 to 1992.
The company was founded and controlled by Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti through his purchase and merger of MGM/UA Communications Co. and Pathé Communications (unrelated to the French Pathé studio). The company was overshadowed by Parretti's fraudulent schemes and he found himself ousted from the studio in less than a year.
On January 30, 1989, Parretti founded Pathé Entertainment (or Pathé Communications) after purchasing Cannon Films. Pathé Entertainment was named after the similarly-named French studio that Parretti anticipated to purchase. When Parretti had announced his intent to make the purchase, the French government scuttled Parretti's initial bid to buy Pathé due to concerns about his character, background, and past dealings.Alan Ladd, Jr. was appointed as chairman and CEO of Pathé Entertainment.
After bids by Parretti to acquire New World Pictures and Kings Road Entertainment went nowhere, Parretti set his sights on purchasing MGM/UA. In the mid-1980s, American businessman Kirk Kerkorian sold portions of MGM/UA to Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System. In 1985–86, Kerkorian repurchased United Artists and then MGM, but without the company's film library and Culver City lot and film processing labs (entities which had been earlier sold by Ted Turner to Lorimar). In 1989, Kerkorian agreed to sell his MGM/UA interests to Australian broadcasting company Qintex after they tendered an offer of $1.5 billion deal to beat out Rupert Murdoch. However, when Qintex was unable to provide a $50 million letter of credit the deal collapsed. Five months after the Qintex deal fell through, Parretti brokered a deal to make the purchase for $1.2 billion, but questions were raised over Parretti's financial acumen.
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