User:JeffreyAtWndrCo/Jeffrey Katzenberg draft

Jeffrey Katzenberg (born December 21, 1950) is an American entertainment executive and media proprietor. He became well known for his tenure as chairman of The Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994. After departing Disney, he was a co-founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, where he oversaw the production of such animated franchises as Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon. He has since founded a new media and technology company called WndrCo and was a co-founder of Quibi, a defunct short-form mobile video platform.

Katzenberg has also been involved in politics. With his active support of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, he was called "one of Hollywood's premier political kingmakers and one of the Democratic Party's top national fund-raisers."

Early life
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 received the nickname "Squirt" and eventually became a member of Lindsay's staff as an advance man after attending New York University for one year.

Paramount Pictures
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.

The Walt Disney Studios
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, the Disney Channel, and home video distribution. At the time, The Walt Disney Studios ranked last at the box office among the nine 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. 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 such hit television series as The Golden Girls, Empty Nest. and Home Improvement.

Katzenberg was also charged with turning around Disney's ailing Feature Animation unit. He created some intrastudio controversy when he personally edited "2 or 3" minutes out of a completed Disney animated feature, The Black Cauldron, but under his management the animation department produced some of Disney's most critically acclaimed and highest-grossing films in a period known as the Disney Renaissance. The films produced under Katzenberg's leadership during this era include The Great Mouse Detective, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Oliver and Company, The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beastwhich was the first animated feature to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best PictureAladdin, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King, and Pocahontas, which was developed concurrently with The Lion King and which Katzenberg felt was the more important of the two. 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. 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 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 the three men resulted in Katzenberg's forced resignation, announced in August 1994. He finished the remainder of his contract, which expired on October 1 of that year, before formally leaving the company. Katzenberg sued Disney for money he asserted he was owed, and settled out of court for an estimated $250 million in 1999.

DreamWorks SKG


In October 1994, Katzenberg co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, with Katzenberg taking primary responsibility for animation operations. He was credited as producer or executive producer on the DreamWorks animated films The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run and Joseph: King of Dreams, Shrek, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, and Shrek 2.

After DreamWorks Animation suffered a $125 million loss on the traditionally animated Sinbad, Katzenberg believed that telling traditional stories using traditional animation was a thing of the past. Following the success of Shrek, the studio made only computer-generated films. Since then, most of DreamWorks' animated feature films have been successful financially and critically with several Annie Awards and Academy Awards nominations and wins.

DreamWorks Animation
In 2004, DreamWorks Animation (DWA) was spun off from DreamWorks as a separate company headed by Katzenberg. DWA held an IPO in conjunction with the spinoff which raised more than $812 million. Under Katzenberg, the studio released as many as three films per year, triple the number released by competitors Disney and Pixar, and developed popular film franchises, including Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Trolls, and Boss Baby.

The live-action DreamWorks movie studio was sold to Viacom in December 2005. In 2008, the live-action DreamWorks studio again became an independent production company, distributing its films through Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios.

In 2006, Katzenberg made an appearance on the fifth season of The Apprentice. He awarded the task winners an opportunity to be character voices in Over the Hedge.

NBCUniversal acquired DWA in 2016 for $3.8 billion. Katzenberg left his position as CEO of DWA and was named chairman of DreamWorks New Media (DWN), consisting of DWA's interests in AwesomenessTV and Nova. By January 2017, Katzenberg had stepped down from his position with DWN.

WndrCo
In January 2017, reports surfaced that Katzenberg had raised nearly $600 million from investors for a new venture called WndrCo, a new media and technology investment firm. Katzenberg's goal was to grow WndrCo into a company similar to IAC, founded by his former mentor, Barry Diller.

Quibi
In late 2018, Katzenberg announced a new video streaming platform, Quibi, created in partnership with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. The platform specialized in original, short-form content designed for smartphones. Whitman was hired as the company's CEO and first employee. Katzenberg and Whitman created Quibi to be a mobile-based Netflix for people to view in "quick bites" as they went about their days. Their investors included Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony, Viacom, and AT&T's newly-rebranded WarnerMedia. In late 2020, Quibi shut down after just over six months of operation. Katzenberg said the shutdown was due to a sudden change in how audiences consume media caused by the coronavirus pandemic which did not align with Quibi's market niche and a desire to return some funds to investors. Of the initial $1.65 billion raised, Katzenberg said he was able to return $600 million to investors.

Political activities


Beginning in 1992 with Bill Clinton, Katzenberg has been a prominent supporter of Democratic candidates for elected office and was an early supporter of Barack Obama. Reportedly "smitten" by Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Katzenberg pledged his full support to Obama in 2006 if he decided to run for president. During his campaign, Obama praised Katzenberg for his "tenacious support and advocacy since we started back in 2007."

Katzenberg was an avid fundraiser for Obama, doing so while much of Hollywood was still supporting Hillary Clinton. Following Obama's election, Katzenberg's fundraising prowess reportedly allowed him to become an "informal liaison" between Hollywood and the White House. Katzenberg was reportedly Obama's top "bundler", and, with Andy Spahn, had collected at least $6.6 million in combined donations for both of Obama's presidential campaigns. In 2012, Katzenberg hosted a fundraiser for Obama at the residence of George Clooney and said the event had raised nearly $15 million, which would make it the most profitable presidential fundraiser in history. Some Obama campaign officials were unhappy with some of Katzenberg's requests of the president, including that the president stay and talk with guests at each of the 14 tables at the dinner.

In October 2012, Obama and Bill Clinton reportedly visited Katzenberg at his home in Beverly Hills for a private meeting with wealthy Democratic donors. The Obama campaign said the meeting was to thank supporters, but some members of the campaign finance committee said that it involved the pro-Obama political action committee Priorities USA Action. Members of the White House press corps who had traveled to California with Obama were kept in the garage of Katzenberg's mansion and one reporter called the meeting "unusual". Katzenberg, who had previously donated $2 million to Priorities USA Action, donated an additional $1 million to the PAC that month.

That year, the Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly opened an investigation into DreamWorks and other movie studios for bribing of a foreign official following the announcement of a deal between China and the United States to increase the number of American movies released in China and the launch of Oriental DreamWorks, a Chinese offshoot of DreamWorks Animation. News of the investigation broke shortly after Joe Biden had brokered the Chinese movie deal, which Katzenberg had assisted with, and Katzenberg had held a fundraiser for the Obama campaign, leading Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin to question if the deal and fundraiser were related. Katzenberg denied the existence of the investigation, saying that DreamWorks had never been asked for documents or to otherwise cooperate with an investigation.

Kaztzenberg donated $1 million to Priorities USA Action in 2015, which supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. In October 2016, he hosted a $100,000-per-person fundraiser at his Beverly Hills residence with President Barack Obama as the main attraction.

In 2018, following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Katzenberg pledged $500,000 to the March for Our Lives gun-control demonstration.

Katzenberg donated approximately $1.8 million to a PAC supporting Karen Bass's Los Angeles mayoral bid in 2022.

In April 2023, Katzenberg was named co-chair of Joe Biden's 2024 U.S. presidential reelection campaign.

Recognition
Katzenberg was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Ringling College of Art and Design in 2008, the first in the school's history.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Katzenberg with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2012, in acknowledgment of his role in "raising money for education, art and health-related causes, particularly those benefiting the motion picture industry." The following year, Katzenberg was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama.

At the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, Katzenberg was awarded an honorary Palme d'Or, the festival's highest prize. Cannes director Thierry Frémaux credited Katzenberg and Shrek with expanding the range of films considered at the competition. Katzenberg compared the distinction to the earlier Academy recognition.

Personal life
Katzenberg married Marilyn Siegel, a kindergarten teacher, in 1975. They have twin children, Laura and David, born in 1983. David is a television producer and director.

Katzenberg and his wife have been active in charitable causes. They donated the multimillion-dollar Katzenberg Center to Boston University's College of General Studies, saying that the school gave their two children the "love of education," and the the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Center for Animation at the University of Southern California (USC).

Katzenberg sits on the board of directors of multiple organizations, including the Motion Picture & Television Fund, Geffen Playhouse, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, AIDS Project Los Angeles, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, California Institute of the Arts, Simon Wiesenthal Center, and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. In 2008, Katzenberg founded the DreamWorks Animation Academy in partnership with Inner-City Arts, a Los Angeles-based art education nonprofit organization, to provide inner-city students with instruction in digital media production.

In 2016, Katzenberg had an estimated net worth of more than $1 billion.