Jeffrey Katzenberg ( KAT-sən-burg; born December 21, 1950) is an American media proprietor and film producer. He served as chair of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994, a position in which he oversaw production and business operations for the company's feature films. Following his departure, he co-founded DreamWorks SKG in 1994, where he served as the company's chief executive officer (CEO) and executive producer of its animated franchises—including Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon—until stepping down from the title in 2016. He has since founded the venture capital firm WndrCo in the same year, which invests in digital media projects, and launched Quibi in 2020, a defunct short-form mobile video platform that lost US$1.35 billion in seven months.
Katzenberg has also been involved in politics as an election donor. With active support of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, he was named "one of Hollywood's premier political kingmakers and one of the Democratic Party's top national fund-raisers". He served as a campaign co-chair for Joe Biden's 2024 presidential re-election campaign, and subsequently Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign.
Katzenberg was born on December 21, 1950, in New York City, to a Jewish family, the son of Anne, an artist, and Walter Katzenberg, a stockbroker. He attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, graduating in 1969. When he was 14, Katzenberg volunteered to work on John Lindsay's successful New York mayoral campaign. He quickly received the nickname "Squirt" and attended as many meetings as he could. He went on to attend New York University for one year, before dropping out to work full-time as an advance man for Lindsay.
Katzenberg began his career as an assistant to producer David V. Picker, then in 1974 he became an assistant to Barry Diller, the chairman of Paramount Pictures. Diller moved Katzenberg to the marketing department, followed by other assignments within the studio, until he was assigned to revive the Star Trek franchise, which resulted in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He continued to work his way up and became president of production under Paramount's president, Michael Eisner, overseeing the production of films including 48 Hrs., Terms of Endearment, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
In 1984, Eisner became chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company. Eisner brought Katzenberg with him to serve as chairman of the Walt Disney Studios. As head of the studio, he oversaw all filmed content including motion pictures, television, Disney Channel, and home video distribution. Katzenberg was responsible for reviving the studio which, at the time, ranked last at the box office among the major studios. He focused the studio on the production of adult-oriented comedies through its Touchstone Pictures banner, including films such as Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Three Men and a Baby, Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, and Pretty Woman. By 1987, Disney had become the number-one studio at the box office. Katzenberg expanded Disney's film portfolio by launching Hollywood Pictures with Eisner and overseeing the acquisition of Miramax Films in 1993. Katzenberg also oversaw Touchstone Television, which produced television series such as The Golden Girls, Empty Nest and Home Improvement.
Katzenberg was also charged with turning around Disney's ailing Feature Animation unit. Shortly after joining the company, he created some intrastudio controversy when he personally edited a few minutes out of a completed Disney animated feature, The Black Cauldron (1985), while also delaying its release. Under his management, the animation department eventually began creating some of Disney's most critically acclaimed and highest grossing animated features. These films include The Great Mouse Detective (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Oliver & Company (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991)—which was the first animated feature to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture—Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), and Pocahontas (1995). Katzenberg also brokered a deal with Pixar to produce 3D computer-generated animated films, and greenlit production of their first film Toy Story.
Concerns arose internally at Disney, particularly from Eisner and Roy E. Disney, about Katzenberg taking too much credit for the success of Disney's animated releases. In 1993, Katzenberg discussed with Eisner the possibility of being promoted to president of the company, which would mean moving Frank Wells from president to vice chairman. Eisner responded that Wells would feel "hurt" in that scenario and then, according to Katzenberg, assured him that he would get the job if Wells vacated the position. After Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994, Eisner assumed his duties instead of promoting Katzenberg. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Eisner said that Roy Disney, Walt Disney's nephew and an influential member of the Disney board, did not like Katzenberg and threatened to start a proxy fight if Katzenberg was promoted to president. Tensions between Katzenberg, Eisner and Disney resulted in Katzenberg leaving Disney upon conclusion of his work contract with the company in October 1994. Disney board member Stanley Gold said Katzenberg had been brought low by "his ego and almost pathological need to be important". Katzenberg sued Disney for money he asserted he was owed, and settled out of court for an estimated $250 million in 1999.
Later in 1994, Katzenberg co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, with Katzenberg taking primary responsibility for animation operations. He was also credited as producer or executive producer on the DreamWorks animated films The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run and Joseph: King of Dreams (all in 2000), Shrek in 2001, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron in 2002, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas in 2003 and both Shrek 2 and Shark Tale in 2004.
After DreamWorks Animation suffered a $125 million loss on the traditionally animated Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), Katzenberg believed that telling traditional stories using traditional animation was a thing of the past, and the studio switched to all computer-generated animation, though some of their films would have some small 2D animated sequences. Since then, most of DreamWorks' animated feature films have been successful financially and critically with several Annie Awards and Academy Awards nominations and wins.
In 2004, DreamWorks Animation (DWA) was spun off from DreamWorks as a separate company headed by Katzenberg. DWA held an initial public offering that same year in conjunction with the spinoff which raised more than $812 million.
The live-action DreamWorks movie studio was sold to Viacom in December 2005. Then in 2008, DreamWorks entered into a new agreement to begin distributing its live-action films through Universal Studios in 2009.
In 2006, Katzenberg made an appearance on the fifth season of The Apprentice. He awarded the task winners an opportunity to be character voices in Over the Hedge.
Katzenberg has been an industry leader in promoting digital 3D production of film, calling it "the greatest advance in the film industry since the arrival of color in the 1930s." When Katzenberg appeared on The Colbert Report on April 20, 2010, he confirmed that from now on "every single movie" that DreamWorks Animation produced would be in 3D and gave Stephen Colbert a pair of new 3D glasses.
NBCUniversal acquired DWA in 2016 for $3.8 billion. Katzenberg left his position as CEO of DWA and was named chairman of DreamWorks New Media (DWN), consisting of DWA's interests in AwesomenessTV and Nova. By January 2017, Katzenberg had stepped down from his position with DWN. In February 2017, NBCUniversal acquired a minority stake in Amblin Partners, the new parent company of the live-action DreamWorks studio since 2015, which reunited a minority percentage of the live-action DreamWorks label with its former animation division.