Improving Universal Pictures Cash Flow By $1B

I will always be proud of going to our Board of Directors with a plan to turn around Universal Pictures. The Board wanted to sell after a disappointing year in which the division lost $500M on a cash flow basis. The Board cut the funding in half to the division and under Ron Meyer’s leadership and my Co-Chairman’s skill and hard work (right after having a baby) we were able to improve cash flow by $1 Billion and put the company back into the black by $500 M and the number one studio. One year later, I moved up to the EVP and CFO of the public parent company. But Stacey Snider and Ron had Universal as the number 1 or number 2 studio for the next 5 years. This was done despite have the lowest amount of capital allocated to its film division of any major studio. It goes to show you brute force will never beat brains in the long run. It helps that both are very nice and conscientious people. We are pictured here at a Premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater.