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Michael Ovitz

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Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (December 14, 1946- )
    Co-Founded Creative Artists Agency (1975-95)
    President of Walt Disney (October 1, 1995-January 31, 1997; resigned on December 12, 1996)
    Founded/CEO Artists Management Group (1997-2000)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was invited to a White House dinner and instead of coming along with the media moguls aboard their bus, he travelled alone to get their first.
    He steadily declined from Premieres #7 most influential person in the media in 1996 to being in the high 70's after 1999.
    In 1999 he just barely held on to the #100 spot on Entertainment Weekly's 100 most influential, considering his better placement earlier that decade.
    He blames his failures on 'the Gay Mafia.'
    In a 2002 interview, he told Vanity Fair that 'The Gay Mafia' led by David Geffen was destroying him. He said: 'I know how hard it is for people to see me as a victim, but in this case it's pretty close to the truth.'
    Besides Geffen, he sited former Creative Artists Agency colleagues Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane and Richard Lovett as part of this 'Gay Mafia.' He also included his former boss, Michael Eisner, of Disney and Barry Diller of Vivendi Universal Entertainment.
    He said in a rage of paranoia 'It was the goal of these people to eliminate me.' 'They wanted to kill Michael Ovitz. If they could have taken my wife and kids, they would have.'
    Although he worked for Disney for only one year he took a severance of $100,000,000.
    His Artists Management Group collapsed after only three years.
    He was only able to get $12,000,000 for AMG, from a company called the firm. He then outed the Firm's Jeffrey Kwatinetz, as a coke head.
    Many of his colleagues have labeled him as highly antagonistic.
    His Artists Management Group under the guise of collaborating, actually raided his former company Creative Artists Agency. CAA was so upset that they labelled him a competitor and said they would no longer represent anyone who signed with his company.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was nicknamed 'the most powerful man in Hollywood.'
    He started as a Universal Studios tour guide.
    CAA's client list included the cream of the crop with 150 directors, 130 actors and 250 writers.
    He has the ability to convince people that he knows what he is doing, and usually he does.
    He enjoys new challenges.
    He left CAA for Disney for less money.
    Entertainment Weekly ranked him #1 most influential in 1991 up from #2 in 1990.
    He was selected as one of People's most intriguing (1990).
    He tried to purchase an NFL team to move back to Los Angeles.

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 72.22% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 10 Votes: 90.0% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 28 Votes: 64.29% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 23 Votes: 82.61% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 29 Votes: 79.31% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 61 Votes: 70.49% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 175 Votes: 70.29% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 287 Votes: 68.99% Annoying
    In 2004, Out of 310 Votes: 70.32% Annoying
    In 2003, Out of 42 Votes: 90.48% Annoying