Media Executives with MBA?

May 2, 2006 2:20 PM

Trying to find a good path from MBA to CEO of major media company or studio. Any thoughts?

So I am working on an essay for by biz school application and am trying to find media executives who have there MBA and what path they took from MBA to head of a media company. For example if Terry Semel at Yahoo had an MBA he would work (he was head of WB and others before heading to Yahoo which he has turned into an almost media company). Or Brad Grey at Paramount (who also does not have an MBA). At any rate those are the type of people I am looking for...any ideas?

posted by UMDirector to media & arts (9 comments total)

"Start out in the mailroom, end up a mogul....For dozens of Hollywood's brightest, it happens to be true. Some of the biggest names in entertainment -- including David Geffen, Barry Diller, and Michael Ovitz -- began as trainees in musty talent agency mailrooms."
posted by ericb at 2:25 PM on May 2, 2006

"The Mailroom reveals why Harvard M.B.A.s turn down secure six-figure corporate salaries to work at a major agency for less than $400 a week"
posted by ericb at 2:27 PM on May 2, 2006

Yes a number of people have done it that way but that is a bit of a stereotype. For example many producers have law degrees and jumped from law into producing due to a contact they made or a job opening at a clients company. I am looking for a similar path for an MBA.

There have got to be some media or film company presidents who have MBAs out there.
posted by UMDirector at 2:59 PM on May 2, 2006

I can't think of any with MBA's. I'm sure you are right -- there must be some, but I think that the path to studio head has been and is often serendipitous for most -- from Peter Gruber (Mandalay) who started out as a hair stylist to Ron Meyer (Universal Pictures) who did the mail room stint like so many others.

Maybe film and media studios don't view an MBA degree the way other sectors do.
posted by ericb at 3:16 PM on May 2, 2006

Most of the CEOs at media (mostly music and broadcast radio) companies I have dealt with went to business school after ruining their companies...

Successful media companies tend to be run by folks who worked their way up through the business and have the hands on experience in many facest of the media biz, that keys them into their market and helps them understand the folks they work with. When the company shows growth, it gets swallowed up by some media conglomerate headed by sharp MBAs and starts the inexorable march towards medicocrity and eventual failure.
posted by zaelic at 3:25 PM on May 2, 2006

Does Steve Case (AOL guy?) have an MBA?

1. Start an Internet company
2. Buy a media company
3. Profit (YMMV, his did too)
posted by Frank Grimes at 6:06 PM on May 2, 2006

Does Steve Case (AOL guy?) have an MBA?

"The 1980 college grad was rejected from numerous MBA applications, and as a result (or nonetheless), began a marketing career at Procter & Gamble, where he worked on hair-care products. Case then took his skills to PepsiCo, where he developed pizzas for Pizza Hut, a job that required a lot of traveling." [source].
posted by ericb at 7:20 PM on May 2, 2006

Tom Freston (#2 at Viacom to Summner Redstone) and Jeff Bewkes (#2 at Time Warner to Richard Parsons) have MBAs. Interesting to note that in each case, the #1 has a law degree, not an MBA.
posted by MattD at 7:22 PM on May 2, 2006

BTW, I don't know that Redstone ever practiced, but Parsons had an interesting path: lawyer-politico, then law firm partner, before he ever became a meda executive.
posted by MattD at 7:24 PM on May 2, 2006