Sid Sheinberg

Sid Sheinberg was an American attorney and entertainment executive.

Sheinberg grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas. He went to Columbia Law School in New York before arriving in California in 1958. He taught at UCLA School of Law and joined Revue Productions, an MCA-TV subsidiary, which was his introduction to show business.

Sheinberg served as president and chief operating officer of MCA, Inc. and Universal Studios for 40 years. He gave Steven Spielberg his first job as a TV director, and, under Sheinberg’s aegis, Universal released the highest-grossing films of the last three decades of the 20th century, including Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park, all directed by Spielberg. Sheinberg’s other notable film successes included Schindler’s List and Back to the Future.

Sheinberg also helped supervise Universal’s television division, turning it into a profitable producer of TV drama series like The Rockford Files, Kojak, and Columbo.

Sheinberg sold MCA and Universal to Japanese firm Matsushita Electric for $6.59 billion in 1990. After that, he produced several feature films through his own production company, The Bubble Factory, working with his sons over the decade that followed.

Sheinberg was also a power in music, brokering the purchase of Motown Records in 1988 for $61 million and the purchase of Geffen Records two years later for $550 million.

Sheinberg died March 7, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California. He was 84.