Keep pulling the thread on Michael Ovitz.
Michael Ovitz asserts that 50 years after its founding, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) remains the number one agency with the largest market share in the industry.
Michael Ovitz, along with Pete Peterson and Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone, advised Sony on its acquisition of CBS Records, which facilitated Sony's later purchase of Columbia Pictures.
At its peak, CAA commanded a 75% market share of talent and represented 46 of the top 50 grossing filmmakers in the world.
CAA was involved in the sales of Columbia Pictures, Universal, and MGM, and also secured financing for Warner Bros.
CAA's advertising division produced 35 commercials a year for Coca-Cola for the same budget that previously yielded six, using a new theme song by Quincy Jones and the slogan "Always Coke is."
CAA's advertising division created the iconic polar bear campaign for Coca-Cola, which was still in use 40 years later.
Michael Ovitz secured an audition for Wolfgang Puck on "Good Morning America" to potentially replace Julia Childs by having the president of ABC sign a contract on a napkin at Spago.
The experience of not sharing information at William Morris taught Michael Ovitz that his own company, CAA, required the opposite culture: complete information sharing, no egos, and collective effort.
Upon founding CAA in 1974, Michael Ovitz required his team to read a curated bibliography on film history to ensure they could effectively communicate with and represent top filmmakers.
A foundational principle at CAA was a "no lying" policy, where agents were trained to say "I don't know" and call back, a practice unheard of in the entertainment industry in 1974.
In 1999, Michael Ovitz served on the board of Marc Andreessen's first company, LoudCloud.
Within the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz is responsible for operations while Marc Andreessen focuses on company vision and analysis.