David Geffen Influences Michael
Though Michael is the sole director of all of his companies, he has an investment committee that meets informally about once a year to discuss his many investments. In 1990, that committee consisted of John Branca and his partner, Kenneth Ziffren; Jackson’s accountant, Marshall Gelfand; John Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company (which publishes
Ebony
and
Jet
); and David Geffen. The committee had no real power; Michael could veto any decision five minutes after it has been made.
None of the members pocketed any money from investments made on Michael’s behalf. Mostly, the committee was formed by Michael so that these powerful men would be well acquainted with one another and be able to follow one another’s activities throughout the year. Michael believes in having his associates watching over one another to see who may be taking advantage of him. Because his investments are so fascinating – and because it seems an honour for these gentlemen to be involved, even if it does not mean a personal profit for them – Michael has no difficulty in organizing such an investment committee.
In recent months, David Geffen, who had been a member of the investment committee for about ten years, had begun to exert great influence over Michael. At one point, Michael had signed a development deal with David’s production company to do a film. David’s task was to procure a script that would meet with Michael’s approval. However, the two couldn’t agree on one. (Michael still wants to do a movie that would be a fantastic, big-budget combination of
Star Wars
and Busby Berkeley.)
It’s easy to see why Michael – a man who is most impressed by wealth and power – would be enamoured of David Geffen. In its 24 December 1990, issue,
Forbes
dubbed David, ‘the richest man in Hollywood’ and, indeed, he probably was then, and still is, today with an estimated worth of over $100 million.
David has a reputation as being shrewd and savvy, an intuitive show-business genius who knows when to buy and, just as important, when to sell. He is intelligent and witty. He can also be temperamental, and is considered by some associates to be conceited and arrogant. Over the years, David earned a respectable reputation in the music world (with his Geffen Records) and film world, producing movies that were distributed by Warner Bros., including
Risky Business
and
Beetlejuice
. In addition, he made money in the theatre, co-producing the Broadway hit
Dreamgirls
with Michael Bennett and helping to finance Andrew Lloyd Webber’s
Cats
.
Michael admired David’s business savvy and vision. ‘Michael told me he thinks David is the most amazing man he has ever met,’ said a Jackson associate. ‘He felt that if he listened to David’s advice, he, too, could become a mogul, like David. He hung on to his every word the way he used to hang on to John Branca’s. Unlike Branca, though, Geffen really kissed up to Mike, flattered him constantly. He and David became extremely close in many ways. Not only did they have a professional relationship, they also had a close personal relationship. David was the one who told him that
Decade
was a mediocre idea and that Michael shouldn’t waste his time on it. He convinced Mike to do an album of new material, and Michael agreed. So, obviously, John Branca is not a fan of David Geffen’s.’
There was some talk that Michael would hire Quincy Jones for the new project. However, Michael no longer wanted to work with Quincy because he felt that the producer had become too possessive of him and his work, and had taken too much credit for it. Michael was still miffed that Quincy gave him a tough time about ‘Smooth Criminal’ – Quincy didn’t want it on the
Bad
album. For Quincy’s part, he felt that Michael had become too demanding and inflexible. With emotions running so high, the partnership that had once sold millions and millions of albums had soured. Still, Quincy figured he would work with Michael, again. He was never informed otherwise. Michael just began work without him; he hasn’t worked with Quincy since
Bad
.
David Geffen had obtained all of Michael’s financial information – it is quite possible that Michael gave him the documents – and started discussing with him his relationship with CBS Records. He pointed out to Michael that he had spent about forty million dollars making music videos for
Bad
(including the cost of
Moonwalker
), an exorbitant amount to spend on video production. David was right about that. However, John Branca had made back an enormous amount of money for Michael on these videos as a result of distribution and other sales deals, and Michael’s net loss was ‘only’ ten million dollars. Practically no one in the record industry makes thirty million dollars from music videos. But, still, Michael began to believe that CBS Records was making more money on him and his videos than he was making for himself. Soon, he was riled up enough to want to leave CBS altogether.
Prior to this time, Walter Yetnikoff and Michael Jackson had had an outstanding relationship. Michael brought him up on to the stage during the 1984 Grammys. Walter was appreciative and felt that Michael’s public show of gratitude helped him earn millions of dollars for himself and his label. ‘You don’t bring record executives up at the Grammys, ’cause no one’s interested,’ Yetnikoff told
Rolling Stone
in 1988. ‘I went back to CBS and I said, “Give me another two million dollars for that.”’
Walter Yetnikoff had been one of the most powerful men in the record business for many years. By 1990 his line-up of superstar recording artists included Michael, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. But his power had slipped during the year due to a deteriorating relationship with CBS Records’ new parent company, Sony, and, in part, to his estrangement from Bruce Springsteen and Springsteen’s attorney, John Landau. Now, without Michael Jackson in his corner, Yetnikoff’s future looked cloudy.