David Geffen is a business tycoon, producer, film studio executive, and philanthropist. He is most famous for creating or co-creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and DreamWorks SKG in 1994.
Early Life
David Geffen was born 1943 in Borough Park, Brooklyn, New York, to parents Batya Volovskaya and Abraham Geffen. His mother worked as the owner of a clothing store in Borough Park.His parents were Jewish migrants who came from the British-mandated Palestine to the USA.
David graduated from Brooklyn’s New Utrecht High School in 1960. He then spent a semester at the University of Texas in Austin, after which he studied at Brooklyn College, before again dropping out. He later moved to Los Angeles to try his luck in the entertainment business. He also had a brief stint at the Santa Monica College.
Career
David Geffen started his entertainment industry career as a mailroom worker at the William Morris Agency (WMA), where he soon became a talent agent. This came after a brief appearance as an extra in the 1961 movie The Explosive Generation.
For his job at the WMA, Geffen had to prove that he was a college alumnus. One of his colleagues at the mailroom job was namely Elliot Roberts, his future companion in a management organization.
Further on, Geffen resigned from William Morris to become a personal manager. He had success with Laura Nyro as well as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Jackson Browne.
In 1970, alongside his friend Elliot Roberts, he started Asylum Records .The reason behind the name of his company were the two holders’ reputations for accepting artists who would fight for a signing with the record company.
Awards and Achievements
David Geffen won the Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
In addition, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded him the President’s Merit Award for “indelible contributions to the music industry” at the 53rd Grammy Awards in 2011.
Net Worth and Earnings
David Geffen currently has an estimated net worth of $6.9 billion. He managed to earn this amount of money through from his career as a record executive, theatre and film producer, and business tycoon.
One of the highlights of his career was the creation of Geffen Records, a record company that contracted Nirvana, Donna Summer, Blink-182, and also released Double Fantasy album. His earnings increased once he found the film production giant known far and wide, called DreamWorks.
Geffen was also a vice chairman of Warner Brothers film studio.
He unfortunately had to resign soon after getting the position, due to being misdiagnosed with cancer and opting to receive early retirement.
David Geffen is also famous for his art collection, real estate in New York and California, and his marvelous 453-foot yacht called Rising Sun.
