Company Town : Who Runs Hollywood Now

MCA/Universal

Seagram Co. acquired 80% of MCA last month. On Monday Seagram Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. formally tapped Ron Meyer, a co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, as president and chief operating officer of MCA after failing to come to terms with Meyer’s boss, Michael Ovitz. MCA Chairman Lew Wasserman will become chairman emeritus, while Meyer assumes the role held by longtime MCA president Sidney Sheinberg. Tom Pollock, chairman of the MCA Motion Picture Group, will stay on as vice chairman of MCA.

Time Warner Inc.

Gerald Levin has headed this New York-based media conglomerate since the 1992 death of legendary Chairman Steve Ross. The Warner Bros. movie unit, headed by chairmen and co-chief executives Robert Daly and Terry Semel, is known for management stability. But chaos currently reigns at Warner Music Group.

News Corp.

Rupert Murdoch’s media company stretches from the London media to the Fox television network, but the Australian-born mogul now spends much of his time overseeing the Hollywood entertainment operations. The movie studio, Fox Filmed Entertainment, has been headed by veteran Fox manager Peter Chernin since 1992.

Sony Corp.

Despite a $2.7-billion write-off in 1994, Sony Corp. of America Chief Executive Michael Schulhof has held on as head of the entertainment operations. Peter Guber was eased out as head of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which includes Columbia and TriStar, last year, and the movie group is now run by attorney Alan Levine. But Jeff Sagansky, a former CBS executive, has a hand in the operations from New York.

Viacom Inc.

Viacom completed a $10-billion merger with Paramount in March, 1994. Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone and Chief Executive Frank Biondi promoted former Columbia Pictures head Jonathan Dolgen to run the Viacom Entertainment Group, whose main component is Paramount, but Sherry Lansing stayed on studio president.

Walt Disney Co.

Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner headed a stable management team for nearly a decade. But in the past year President Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash, television chief Richard Frank quit and was replaced by Dennis Hightower, and Jeffrey Katzenberg departed to co-found the new DreamWorks SKG studio after a public row with Eisner. Joe Roth now heads Disney’s motion picture studio.