Description
Harpo Productions (or Harpo Studios) is an American multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey and based in West Hollywood, California. The name "Harpo" is "Oprah" spelled backwards and it was also the name of her on-screen husband in the film The Color Purple (1985).
History
The company's origins can trace back to 1985 when Oprah appeared in The Color Purple. Winfrey founded her own company in 1986.
Oprah Winfrey got her roots in 1988 when Harpo Productions had to acquire her eponymous talk show from ABC O&O WLS-TV in Chicago, and automatically renewed its deal with King World Productions, who held minority interest, which was set to expire in 1991.
Harpo Productions' subsidiaries consist of Harpo Print, the company's publishing house, and a minority interest in cable network Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Harpo originally owned 50% of OWN along with Discovery Communications, which purchased 24.5% of OWN in 2017 and a further 20.5% in 2020, leaving Harpo with 5% ownership.
Past subsidiaries include Harpo Films, the company's film studio which shut down in early 2013, and Harpo Radio, the company's radio broadcasting division that shuttered on January 1, 2015. The company was previously based in Chicago, with Harpo Studios situated in the West Loop neighborhood. The building was demolished in 2016, and new headquarters for McDonald's opened on the site in 2018.
In January 2021, it was announced that Harpo Productions will produce an Oprah Winfrey documentary for Apple TV+. That documentary series became known as The Me You Can't See, which Winfrey co-hosts with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
