Talk:Merv Griffin Enterprises

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[edit] Merv Griffin companies

This is how it goes. Television personality Merv Griffin, established Merv Griffin Productions in 1964. His first production was Jeopardy!, which was cancelled on 1975 and later syndicated by King World in 1984. His talk show The Merv Griffin Show was produced from 1965-1986. Griffin created more game shows such as Wheel of Fortune, which was later syndicated in 1983. In 1984, Griffin expanded his company and renamed his company to Merv Griffin Enterprises. In 1986, Griffin experienced financial difficulties and was forced to sell his company. He sold his company to Coca-Cola, the parent of Columbia Pictures Industries for $250 million, however, Griffin still remained the executive producer for Wheel and Jeopardy! until 1994. In December 1987, his company was merged into Columbia Pictures Entertainment. Other companies were merged into that name were: Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Embassy Communications (later ELP Communications in 1988), Columbia Pictures Television, and Triumph Releasing Corporation. On November 1989, Coca-Cola decided to get out of show business and sold Columbia Pictures Entertainment to Sony Corporation of Japan for $3.4 billion. CPE was renamed to Sony Pictures Entertainment in 1991. In 1994, Griffin sold Wheel and Jeopardy! to Columbia TriStar Television (now Sony Pictures Television). In 1996, Griffin renamed his company to Merv Griffin Entertainment by focusing on television movies, producing new series, and reviving some of his recent television series like Dance Fever in 2003. Griffin however, retains the copyright for his game shows: Wheel of Fortune for Califon Productions, Inc. and Jeopardy! for Jeopardy Productions, Inc. King Shadeed 15:19, 28 July 2006 (UTC)