Jeffrey Katzenberg

Jeffrey Katzenberg (born December 21, 1950) is an American media executive.

Katzenberg was born on December 21, 1950, in New York City, to a Jewish family, the son of Anne, an artist, and Walter Katzenberg, a stockbroker.

He attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, graduating in 1969.

When he was 14, Katzenberg volunteered to work on John Lindsay's successful New York mayoral campaign.

He quickly received the nickname "Squirt" and attended as many meetings as he could.

He went on to attend New York University for one year, before dropping out to work full-time as an advance man for Lindsay.

Katzenberg began his career as an assistant to producer David V. Picker, then in 1974 he became an assistant to Barry Diller, the chairman of Paramount Pictures.

Diller moved Katzenberg to the marketing department, followed by other assignments within the studio, until he was assigned to revive the Star Trek franchise, which resulted in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

He continued to work his way up and became president of production under Paramount's president, Michael Eisner, overseeing the production of films including 48 Hrs., Terms of Endearment, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

He was the chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994, overseeing production and business operations for the company's feature films.

In 1984, Eisner became chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company.

Eisner brought Katzenberg with him to serve as chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.

As head of the studio, he oversaw all filmed content including motion pictures, television, Disney Channel, and home video distribution.

Katzenberg was responsible for reviving the studio which, at the time, ranked last at the box office among the major studios.

He focused the studio on the production of adult-oriented comedies through its Touchstone Pictures banner, including films such as Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Three Men and a Baby, Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, and Pretty Woman.

Katzenberg was also charged with turning around Disney's ailing Feature Animation unit, creating some intrastudio controversy when he personally edited a few minutes out of a completed Disney animated feature, The Black Cauldron (1985), shortly after joining the company.

Under his management, the animation department eventually began creating some of Disney's most critically acclaimed and highest grossing animated features.

These films include The Great Mouse Detective (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Oliver & Company (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991)—which was the first animated feature to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture—Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994).

Katzenberg also brokered a deal with Pixar to produce 3D computer-generated animated movies and greenlit production of Toy Story.

Concerns arose internally at Disney, particularly from Eisner and Roy E. Disney, about Katzenberg taking too much credit for the success of Disney's animated releases.

By 1987, Disney had become the number-one studio at the box office.

Katzenberg expanded Disney's film portfolio by launching Hollywood Pictures with Eisner and overseeing the acquisition of Miramax Films in 1993.

Katzenberg also oversaw Touchstone Television, which produced television series such as The Golden Girls, Empty Nest and Home Improvement.

In 1993, Katzenberg discussed with Eisner the possibility of being promoted to president of the company, which would mean moving Frank Wells from president to vice chairman.

Eisner responded that Wells would feel "hurt" in that scenario and then, according to Katzenberg, assured him that he would get the job if Wells vacated the position.

After departing Disney, he co-founded DreamWorks Animation in 1994, where he served as the company's CEO and producer of its animated franchises such as Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon until stepping down from the title in 2016.

After Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994, Eisner assumed his duties instead of promoting Katzenberg.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Eisner said that Roy Disney, Walt Disney's nephew and an influential member of the Disney board, did not like Katzenberg and threatened to start a proxy fight if Katzenberg was promoted to president.

Tensions between Katzenberg, Eisner and Disney resulted in Katzenberg leaving Disney upon conclusion of his work contract with the company in October 1994.

Disney board member Stanley Gold said Katzenberg had been brought low by "his ego and almost pathological need to be important."

Later in 1994, Katzenberg co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, with Katzenberg taking primary responsibility for animation operations.

He was also credited as producer or executive producer on the DreamWorks animated films The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run and Joseph: King of Dreams (all in 2000), Shrek in 2001, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron in 2002, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas in 2003 and Shrek 2 in 2004.

Katzenberg sued Disney for money he asserted he was owed, and settled out of court for an estimated $250 million in 1999.

After DreamWorks Animation suffered a $125 million loss on the traditionally animated Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), Katzenberg believed that telling traditional stories using traditional animation was a thing of the past, and the studio switched to all computer-generated animation.

Since then, most of DreamWorks' animated feature films have been successful financially and critically with several Annie Awards and Academy Awards nominations and wins.

In 2004, DreamWorks Animation (DWA) was spun off from DreamWorks as a separate company headed by Katzenberg.

He has since founded the venture capital firm WndrCo in 2017, which invests in digital media projects, and launched Quibi the following year, a defunct short-form mobile video platform which lost US$1.35 billion in seven months.

Katzenberg has also been involved in politics.

With his active support of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, he was named "one of Hollywood's premier political kingmakers and one of the Democratic Party's top national fund-raisers".

He is a campaign co-chair of Joe Biden's re-election campaign.