Short answers, pulled from the story.
Touchstone Pictures was founded on the 15th of February 1984 by then-Disney CEO Ron W. Miller. It launched as Touchstone Films, later renamed Touchstone Pictures after the release of Ruthless People in 1986.
Armageddon, released in 1998, is Touchstone Pictures' highest-grossing film worldwide, earning $553.7 million. It was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who held a production deal with Disney from 1993 to 2014.
Disney created Touchstone Pictures because public perception associated the Disney brand exclusively with children's and family entertainment, which was hurting box office performance for more mature films. The studio lost over $27 million in 1982 and $33 million in 1983, prompting the launch of a separate label to allow wider creative latitude without the Disney name.
Six Touchstone films received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture: Dead Poets Society, The Insider, The Help, War Horse, Lincoln, and Bridge of Spies.
In 2009, Disney entered a five-year, thirty-picture distribution deal with DreamWorks Studios, using the Touchstone banner to release DreamWorks films from 2011 to 2016. Disney provided $100 million in financing plus a $75 million credit line; by the deal's end, thirteen DreamWorks films had been released through Touchstone.
Touchstone Pictures was retired on the 2nd of September 2016. Its final theatrical release was The Light Between Oceans, which concluded the distribution arrangement with DreamWorks Studios.