Merv Griffin Enterprises was first known as "
Merv Griffin Productions" and was formed in 1964 by television personality
Merv Griffin (formerly "Milbarn Productions" in 1963) with his game show
Jeopardy! and following his revived talk show
The Merv Griffin Show a year later. Before
Jeopardy!, Griffin created and produced a game show called
Word for Word, that debuted in 1963. It formed a partnership with
King World (now "
CBS Media Ventures") in 1982 after ending his partnership with
Metromedia. In 1984, Griffin expanded his company as "Merv Griffin Enterprises". It was sold to Coca-Cola on May 5, 1986 for $250 million, was later merged into Columbia Pictures Entertainment on December 21, 1987, and was sold to Sony Corporation along with CPE's other companies on November 8, 1989. On June 4, 1994, Merv Griffin made a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment through the Griffin Group that he would remain the executive producer of
Jeopardy! and
Wheel of Fortune until 2000 and both series would be produced by
Columbia TriStar Television (now "
Sony Pictures Television") in September.
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