Peter Guber

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Guber is a co-owner of the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, Los Angeles Football Club of Major League Soccer, and the professional eSports organization aXiomatic Gaming, with a controlling interest in Team Liquid. He formerly served as chairman of Dick Clark Productions, was chairman of the Strategic Board, an investor in NextVR, and is chairman of Mandalay Sports Media. He is co-executive chairman of aXiomatic, a Regent of the University of California, and a professor at UCLA. For ten years, he was an entertainment and media analyst for Fox Business. His book Tell to Win became a No. 1 New York Times Business Bestseller. He also wrote Inside the Deep and Shootout: Surviving Fame and (Mis)Fortune in Hollywood, which became a TV series on AMC. He hosted the show from 2003 to 2008 with Peter Bart. He wrote an online article for the Harvard Business Review titled 'The Four Truths of the Storyteller'.

In Their Own Story

The trajectory of Howard Peter Guber's career shifted dramatically in 1976 when he merged his company, Filmworks, with Casablanca Records to form Casablanca Record and Filmworks. As chairman, he oversaw a record operation featuring artists like Kiss, Donna Summer, Captain and Tennille, The Village People, and George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic. He also produced television series such as the 1985 documentary Oceanquest for NBC and hosted the show Shootout with Peter Bart from 2003 to 2008. His business acumen extended to a pivotal moment in 1989 when his Guber-Peters Entertainment Company merged with Barris Industries and was subsequently acquired by Sony Corporation on November 9, 1989. Under his leadership at Sony, the studio distributed iconic films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Basic Instinct, A League of Their Own, and Philadelphia. In 1995, Guber founded Mandalay Entertainment as a joint venture with Sony Pictures Entertainment, further expanding his reach into sports media and digital content.

Reader's Guide

Guber was born into a Jewish family in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth and Sam Guber. He attended John Ward Elementary School and Newton North High School. He enrolled in the pre-law curriculum at Syracuse University, played intramural football, rushed Zeta Beta Tau, and spent his junior year abroad in Florence, Italy. At Syracuse, he met his future wife, Tara Lynda Francine Gellis, whom he married in 1964. He earned his J.D. and LL.M. from New York University, studying for his MBA at night. In 1968, he accepted a position with Columbia Pictures as a management trainee. He joined Columbia Pictures in 1968 as an assistant to Jerry Tokofsky. He published 'The New Ballgame/The Cartridge Revolution' in Cinema. He was promoted to vice president of creative affairs, then head of American production, and in August 1973, vice-president of worldwide production. During his time at Columbia, the studio released Shampoo, Taxi Driver, Tommy, and The Way We Were. He left Columbia in 1975 with a three-year production deal. He launched his independent producing career with The Deep (1977). He bought the rights and served as executive producer for Midnight Express (1978). The National Association of Theatre Owners named him Producer of the Year. In 1976, he merged his company Filmworks with Casablanca Records to form Casablanca Record and Filmworks, Inc., becoming chairman. In 1980, he rechristened the film division as PolyGram Pictures, where he was Chairman and CEO. He sold his interest in PolyGram in 1982 and formed the Guber-Peters Company with Jon Peters. Films he produced or executive produced include Rain Man, Batman, Gorillas in the Mist, The Color Purple, Innerspace, The Witches of Eastwick, Flashdance, Missing, Tango & Cash, and An American Werewolf in London. In 1988, GPC merged with Barris Industries; in 1989, Sony bought the company. During his tenure as co-chairman and CEO at Sony Pictures Entertainment, the company produced Awakenings, Misery, Flatliners, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Boyz n the Hood, City Slickers, Basic Instinct, A League of Their Own, Single White Female, A River Runs Through It, A Few Good Men, Sleepless in Seattle, In the Line of Fire, Groundhog Day, and Philadelphia. In 1995, he formed Mandalay Entertainment as a joint venture with Sony. Mandalay Pictures has had distributor relationships with Universal, Paramount, and Sony. Mandala

Did You Know?

• Guber is a co-owner of the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Football Club, and aXiomatic Gaming.
• His films have grossed over $3 billion worldwide and received 50 Academy Award nominations.
• He hosted the TV series Shootout from 2003 to 2008 with Peter Bart.
• His book Tell to Win became a No. 1 New York Times Business Bestseller.
• He met his wife Tara at Syracuse University.