Word: mca
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Last Monday the trio met with MCA-Universal boss Lew Wasserman, at 81 still the Godfather of Show, and his deputy Sid Sheinberg. Wasserman and Sheinberg were rankling under the ownership of Matsushita, the Japanese conglomerate. MCA was home to both Geffen, whose current music company is housed there, and Spielberg, whose Amblin films are distributed mainly through Universal; the director regards Sheinberg as a mentor of nearly 30 years. "Lew and Sid's intentions were to get back control of their company," says Katzenberg, "and they hoped we'd be an ally to them. We assured them we would...
...industry the big question is what role the three amigos will play in the Wasserman rumpus with the Japanese. In 1990 Matsushita spent $6.6 billion on MCA, whose prime asset is Spielberg. Since 1982, five of the six Universal films to gross at least $100 million at the domestic box office (E.T., Back to the Future, Back to the Future Part II, Jurassic Park and The Flintstones) have come from Spielberg's Amblin. Another Spielberg film, Schindler's List, | earned $96 million and a slew of Oscars. Universal Studios Florida, the company's pricey rival to Walt Disney World...
...release its films through Universal. (Spielberg and Katzenberg say they would prefer that; Geffen says Warner Bros. would be a second choice.) But when Matsushita's bosses meet with Wasserman and Sheinberg this week, they may take the long Japanese view and decide they don't want to unload MCA -- least of all to Geffen and Spielberg. "I'm not sure Matsushita is a seller," says an entertainment analyst. "Besides, the Japanese might say, 'Don't two of these three guys work for us already...
Spielberg, ever loyal to Sheinberg, says that "as long as Sid is at MCA, our entire enterprise will be in some fashion aligned with MCA." Katzenberg is more circumspect: "We didn't get into this to be an equity owner-player- manager of MCA and its assets. I don't want to say there's no set of circumstances under which that can't happen. But it's not our purpose, and I don't like reading it that...
...Walt Disney Co. executive who is widely credited with revitalizing that studio's animation division; Steven Spielberg, history's most successful director; and David Geffen, the record-industry mogul. The new firm was rumored to be interested in helping a management-led buyout of an existing competitor -- most likely MCA's Universal -- in order to get a quick start...