Universal Studios, Inc. (formerly known as MCA Inc., also known simply as Universal) is an American mass media and entertainment conglomerate and holding company which owns

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

and other media and entertainment assets. It is the film production arm of

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

, a division of

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

. The company is one of two namesake flagship subsidiaries of NBCUniversal alongside the National Broadcasting Company ( NBC), the oldest of the United States'

Big Three television networks From the 1950s to the 1980s, during the network era of American television, there were three commercial broadcast television networks – NBC (the National Broadcasting Company, "the Peacock Network"), CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System ...

. Originally founded in 1924 as Music Corporation of America by Jules C. Stein and William R. Goodheart Jr., the company became a major force in the film and entertainment industry. Its

studios A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to Wiktionary:study, study or zeal. Types Art The studio o ...

are located in

Universal City, California Universal City is an unincorporated area within the San Fernando Valley. Approximately within and immediately outside the area is the property of Universal Pictures NBCUniversal's film studio, one of the five major film studios in the United ...

, and its corporate offices are located in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studios, Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures sinc ...

, a character created by Walter Lantz, serving as Universal's mascot.

History

Seagram

On December 9, 1996, a year after its acquisition by

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which trade name, traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational beverage and during the last few years of its existence, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. ...

, MCA was rebranded to Universal Studios, Inc. and MCA's music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, was renamed

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

continued to live on as a label within the Universal Music Group. The following year, G. P. Putnam's Sons was sold to the

Penguin Group Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media company, media Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a Mergers and acquisitions, mer ...

subsidiary of Pearson PLC. In 1996, Universal Studios filed a lawsuit against Viacom over Viacom's launch of the TV Land cable network. Viacom had purchased Paramount in 1994, and the contract for USA Network prohibited either of their owners from owning cable channels outside the joint venture. Viacom had owned MTV Networks (the parent of TV Land) since 1985. The suit was settled when Viacom sold MCA its half of the joint venture. TV Land eventually added shows from the MCA/Universal library in 1999.

Vivendi and NBCUniversal

To raise money, Seagram head Edgar Bronfman Jr. sold Universal's television holdings, including cable network USA, to

Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman. He is chairman and senior executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company with Rupert Murdoch and USA Broadcasting. Diller was ind ...

(these same properties would be bought back later at greatly inflated prices). In June 2000, Seagram was sold to French water utility and media company Vivendi, which owned

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...

; the conglomerate then became known as Vivendi Universal. In the spring of 2003, MCA Records was folded into

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

. Its

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

label, MCA Nashville Records, is still in operation. MCA's classical music catalog is managed by

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. Burdened with debt, in 2004, Vivendi Universal sold 80% of Vivendi Universal Entertainment (including the studio and theme parks) to

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

(GE), parent of NBC. However, the sale of Universal to NBC and GE did not include

, which had been a part of the film company since 1962. UMG was placed under separate management through Vivendi. The resulting company was named

, while Universal Studios Inc. remained the name of the production subsidiary. After that deal, GE owned 80% of NBC Universal; Vivendi held the remaining 20%, with an option to sell its share in 2006. In late 2005, Viacom's

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

acquired DreamWorks SKG after acquisition talks between GE and DreamWorks stalled. Universal's long-time chairperson, Stacey Snider, left the company in early 2006 to head up DreamWorks. Snider was replaced by then-Vice chairman Marc Shmuger and Focus Features head David Linde. On October 5, 2009, Marc Shmuger and David Linde were ousted, and their co-chairperson jobs were consolidated under former president of worldwide marketing and distribution Adam Fogelson, becoming the single chairperson. Donna Langley was also upped to co-chairperson. In 2009, Stephanie Sperber founded Universal Partnerships & Licensing within Universal to license consumer products for Universal. GE purchased Vivendi's share in NBCUniversal in 2011.

Comcast

GE sold 51% of the company to cable provider

in 2011, including Universal Studios. Comcast merged the former GE subsidiary with its own cable-television programming assets, creating the current NBCUniversal. Following

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) approval, the Comcast-GE deal was closed on January 29, 2011. In March 2013, Comcast bought the remaining 49% of NBCUniversal for $16.7 billion.

Universal Filmed Entertainment Group

Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG) is an organizational unit within Universal Studios, a entertainment company and a division of

, which is a division of Comcast Corporation. UFEG functions as a coordinated framework encompassing various subsidiary companies and divisions responsible for the creation, marketing, and distribution of films and audiovisual content. UFEG operates under the umbrella of Universal Studios, serving as a key division overseeing several entities, including Universal Studios,

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the ...

, Illumination,

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

, and Focus Features. The CEO of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group is Donna Langley.

Units

** Universal Pictures International ** Universal International Distribution **

*** Universal Home Entertainment Productions *** Universal 1440 Entertainment *** DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment *** Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Australia (joint venture with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) *** Universal Playback *** Studio Distribution Services (joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment) ** Illumination *** Illumination Studios Paris *** Illumination Labs *** Moonlight **

*** DreamWorks Animation Television *** DreamWorks Classics **** Big Idea Entertainment (in-name-only unit of DreamWorks Animation) **** Bullwinkle Studios (JV) **** Harvey Entertainment (in-name-only unit of DreamWorks Animation) *** DreamWorks Theatricals *** DreamWorks New Media **** DreamWorksTV *** DreamWorks Press ** Focus Features * Universal Pictures International Entertainment ** NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan * Working Title Films ** WT² Productions ** Working Title Television * Rede Telecine (12.5%, joint venture with Canais Globo, Walt Disney Studios,

and

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

) * Universal Brand Development * Universal Global Talent Development and Inclusion * Universal Products & Experiences * Back Lot Music *

United International Pictures United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (M ...

(50%, joint venture with

Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...

) * Amblin Partners (minor stake) (JV) **

Amblin Entertainment Amblin' Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1980. Its headquarters are lo ...

** Amblin Television **

DreamWorks Pictures DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film studio and Film distribution, distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994, as a live-action a ...

** Storyteller Distribution

Film library

Universal Studios holds the rights to the film library through its divisions and subsidiaries such as

, Universal Animation Studios, Focus Features, Illumination, and

References

{{Authority control Home video companies of the United States Television production companies of the United States * NBCUniversal Entertainment companies based in California American companies established in 1924 Entertainment companies established in 1924 Mass media companies established in 1924 1924 establishments in Illinois 1924 establishments in California History of Chicago Universal Music Group Former Vivendi subsidiaries Comcast