MCA history

Lew Wasserman joined MCA in 1936 at the age of 23 and rose through the ranks of MCA for more than four decades, with Sonny Werblin as his right-hand man.

Following that success, Stein installed Wasserman in New York City in 1937, but Wasserman convinced him that Hollywood was the best place for the company's growth.

In 1939, MCA's headquarters moved from Chicago to Beverly Hills, California, creating a movie division and beginning to acquire talent agencies and represent established actors such as James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Bette Davis, and Ronald Reagan, whom Wasserman became very close with personally.

In 1948, Jules Stein moved up as MCA's first chairman, giving Lew Wasserman charge of day-to-day operations of the company as president.

In 1950 Revue Productions, once a live concert promotion division that produced "Stage Door Canteen" live events for the USO during World War II, was re-launched as MCA's television production subsidiary.

The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange and was incorporated as MCA Inc. on November 10, 1958.

In 1962, MCA entered a merger of equals with New York–based American Decca Records, with MCA as the surviving company.

On July 15, 1964, MCA established the Studio Tour, which provided guests a sneak peek behind-the-scenes glimpse at movie and television production at the backlot of Universal Studios.

In 1967, the MCA Records label was established outside the United States and Canada to issue releases by the MCA group of labels.

MCA had two failed mergers in 1969.

The first MCA Records release in the US was former Uni artist Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" in 1972.

In 1973, the final Decca pop label release, "Drift Away", a #5 pop hit by Dobie Gray, was issued.

In 1975, the company entered the book publishing business with the acquisition of G. P. Putnam's Sons.

In 1979, it acquired ABC Records along with its subsidiaries Paramount Records, Impulse! Records, and Dot Records.

In 1984, MCA bought Walter Lantz Productions and its characters.

The Chess Records catalog was acquired from the remnants of Sugarhill in 1985.

In November 1990, Japanese multinational conglomerate Matsushita Electric agreed to acquire MCA for US$6.59 billion.

MCA was forced to sell WWOR-TV in 1991 by the Federal Communications Commission, because foreign companies could not own over 25% of a US TV station.

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.

In 1995, Seagram acquired 80% of MCA from Matsushita.

On December 9, 1996, the new owners dropped the MCA name; the company became Universal Studios, Inc., and its music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, was renamed Universal Music Group.

On May 21, 1998, Seagram acquired PolyGram from Philips and merged it with its music holdings.

When France-based Pernod Ricard purchased Seagram's drinks business, Pernod sold its media holdings (including Universal) to Vivendi, which became Vivendi Universal in 2000.

In 2009, GE struck a deal to buy Vivendi's interest, and sold a controlling 51% interest to Comcast afterwards.

The sale completed on January 28, 2011, with General Electric owning 49% of the newly formed NBCUniversal.