Michael Ovitz is an American businessman and investor who co-founded Creative Artists Agency and served as its chairman till 1995. As of 2018, Michael Ovitz net worth is estimated to be $400 million as reported by Celebrity Net Worth.
Michael was born on December 14, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois. He was raised in California and went to Birmingham High School. He graduated in 1968 with a degree in theater, film and television from UCLA. His first job was to work as mailroom at William Morris Agency. Within a year, he became highly successful television agent.
Ovitz and his team mate Ron Meyer, Bill Haber, Rowland Perkins and Mike Rosenfeld founded Creative Artists Agency in 1975. Borrowing only $21,000 from a bank, they rented a small office, rented chairs while their wives were also working from time to time as agency receptionist.
Under his leadership, the agency became one of the world’s leading talent agency expanding from television into film, investment banking and advertising. He served as talent agent to Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, Michael Douglas, John Belushi, Dustin Hoffman, Sylvester Stallone and many others. He also worked with directors like Steven Spielburg, Barry Levinson and Sydney Pollack.
In 1995, Michael resigned from Creative Artists Agency and went on to become president of ‘The Walt Disney Company’. However, he quickly got frustrated with the company and was fired by chairman Michale Eisner in 1997. He left the company taking $38 million in cash and $100 million in stock.
In 1999, he formed CKE, comprising four distinct companies: Artist Management Group, Artist Production Group, Artist Television Group and Lynx Technology Group. Three years later, he sold AMG for $12 million. Ovitz now acts as a private investor working with personalities like Martin Scorsese, David Letterman and Tom Clancy.
Regarding his personal life, he married Judy Reich in 1969. In 2015, he became engaged to Tamara Mellon despite still being legally married to Judy. He has three children named Christopher Ovitz, Kimberly Ovitz and Eric Ovitz.
