Working World

The son of Polish and Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, music and movie mogul David Geffen was raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. He dropped out of college three times, leaving Santa Monica College, Brooklyn College and the University of Texas at Austin without degrees. He had a long series of jobs, but ultimately found his niche when working as an usher at CBS in New York, convinced he wanted to be in the entertainment business. A job in the mailroom of the talent agency William Morris was his steppingstone; he became an agent himself and later created his own personal management company.

Founding Asylum Records in 1970 along with former William Morris colleague Elliot Roberts, David signed such major stars as Jackson Browne, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. After a series of mergers that created Elektra/Asylum, and millions in new wealth for him, he left in 1975 to try his hand in the movie business. 

David was VP at Warner Bros. Studios when he was incorrectly diagnosed with cancer. He took some time off and it was three years before the mistake was discovered. After getting a clean bill of health, he went back to work.

He founded Geffen Records in 1980 with a new roster of successful music stars such as Donna Summer, Elton John, Cher, Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana, and sold the company 10 years later to MCA. He continued to produce movies through Geffen Films and had hits with Beetlejuice, Risky Business and Little Shop of Horrors. 

In 1994, when producer Jeffrey Katzenberg was fired from The Walt Disney Company, he invited David to become a partner in what would become DreamWorks SKG (Steven Spielberg was the “S”). Each of the three partners contributed $33 million and there was a $500 million investment by Microsoft’s Paul Allen. DreamWorks Studios, based in Universal City, had 10 movies that grossed more than $100 million each and won Academy Awards for Best Picture three years in a row (1999–2001). They had even greater success with an animation studio spin-off in 2004, and DreamWorks Animation has given competitor Pixar a run for its money with hits like Antz, Shark Tale, and all the Shrek movies.

In 2006, DreamWorks’s live action studio was sold to Viacom’s Paramount Studios for $1.6 million. The relationship between Paramount and DreamWorks was strained, and disagreements between top management at both companies culminated with David and Steven leaving in 2008. David stayed on the board at DreamWorks Animation, but is said to be stepping away from the entertainment business.

His other pursuits include collecting American art and he recently sold off some significant pieces, including one by Jackson Pollock; its price was reported to be the highest ever paid for a painting, at $140 million.

David is also a philanthropist, giving $200 million to UCLA for what subsequently became known as the David Geffen School of Medicine, and he made a major gift to the UCLA-affiliated Geffen Playhouse when it was donated to the university in the late 1990s.  

In 2006, David tried to buy the Los Angeles Times, but the deal fell through. The past few months have found him trying to acquire the financially troubled New York Times, and because no one believes it can be a profitable venture, his interest in the iconic newspaper has led to speculation that he will turn it into a nonprofit institution.

He told Playboy Magazine that he credits his work ethic to his mother, who owned a corset-and-brassiere business in New York and supported the family. Speaking in 2006 to a group of Stanford Graduate School of Business students he claimed he “didn’t have a clue about managing business,” that he relied instead upon instinct, an eye for talent and surrounding himself with smart people.   

Suzanne Ridgway is a freelance writer and regular columnist for Working World and Working Nurse magazines. She also writes grant proposals for nonprofit organizations.