Word: ovitz
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...Ovitz prospered by matching such talent with CAA screenwriters and peddling the stars and stories to studios. But assembling the elements for such hits as Ghostbusters and Rain Man only whetted Ovitz's appetite for even greater power packages. His first real taste of corporate matchmaking came last year when Sony, impressed by his unrivaled Hollywood contacts, tapped him as a consultant for its $3.4 billion acquisition of Columbia Pictures...
...long after the Columbia deal, Matsushita sought out Ovitz to lead the company's search for a major acquisition. The Japanese company first sent a group of top executives to meet with Ovitz in Hawaii, where they talked about everything from world politics to prospective merger partners. A team of CAA experts then prepared a list three possible targets. The Japanese company rejected one studio, Orion, as too small. Another candidate, Paramount, was dismissed because some of its holdings, ranging from publishing (Simon & Schuster) to sports (the New York Knicks), didn't fit into Matsushita's strategy. Ovitz recommended...
...Ovitz orchestrated the merger with cool precision. To avoid the bickering that marred the Columbia deal, he handpicked the law firm, investment bankers and public-relations agents to represent Matsushita. He then served as a shuttle diplomat between the two companies, anticipating problems before they could grow. When the merger was clinched, Ovitz joined the army of 100 dealmakers at Matsushita's law firm in Manhattan for a 9:15 a.m. champagne toast. For Ovitz's work on the merger, Matsushita could eventually pay CAA as much as $40 million. The sum aroused the green-eyed envy of deal-starved...
...Ovitz predicts that the Japanese style of long-term planning will help bring stability to Hollywood. "That's very important to creative people," he says. By the same token, he feels that Americans will grow more comfortable with such global alliances. "It's crystal clear that we are no longer an isolationist country...
What's next for Hollywood's hottest leading man? After the Matsushita deal, Ovitz may be in line to succeed Lew Wasserman as head of MCA. Yet such a move could limit his power, which now encompasses the entire movie business. And he is not yet finished changing the face of Hollywood...