Michael Jay Solomon (born January 20, 1938) is an American businessman, and entertainment executive. Solomon's career spans more than 50 years in the media and content distribution business. He is the founder and president of several publicly and privately held companies which are listed in his Bloomberg profile. Solomon has founded or sits on the board of philanthropic organizations benefiting education, public health, and the arts.
Early life and education
Solomon is the son of Mildred Rickmann & Leroy Solomon. He has a sister named Susan Goldberg, born in 1935. He was born in New York City, New York, where his family has resided for 4 generations. Mr. Solomon was educated at the Milford Prep School, in Milford, Connecticut, the New York University Stern School of Business, where he served on NYU's Board of Overseers (33 years), and also at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts where he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law degree in May 1991, and in October 2019 he was appointed to their Board of Advisors. He is a member of the international honor society Beta Gamma Sigma.
Career
United Artists
Solomon began his career in film distribution with United Artists (UA) in 1956 at the age of 18. When he graduated from New York University at age 21, UA sent him to Panama to open the Central American territory for American films. A year later he was assigned to Bogota, Colombia and when he was 24 he became manager of Peru and Bolivia.
MCA (now NBCUniversal) After 8 years with United Artists, MCA (now Comcast, Universal, and NBC) hired Solomon to start their Latin American TV division. He resided in Mexico and Brazil, and put most of the TV stations on the air in Latin America. After several years, he moved back to New York and conducted international business in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa as well as Latin America. He became a vice president at MCA at 30 years old. He spent 14 years at MCA.
Telepictures
In 1978 Solomon co-founded Telepictures Corporation and served as its chairman and CEO. Telepictures grew to become one of the largest U.S. television syndication companies at that time, and one of the largest international distribution companies. Telepictures became a public company (NASDAQ) 14 months after Solomon became CEO in January, 1980. The company created television syndication with the series The People’s Court, which is still on the air after 32 years. Telepictures was the owner and operator of six television stations in the U.S. (one in Puerto Rico), and the publisher of six magazines, including US magazine (now US Weekly), which they bought out of bankruptcy with Jann Wenner, co-founder and publisher of the pop-culture magazine Rolling Stone. He was responsible for introducing American content to third world countries such as China, Russia, and India. He was also the first international distributor of The Grammys, MTV, and E! Entertainment Television (more commonly known as E!).
Lorimar-Telepictures
In 1985 Telepictures merged with Lorimar to form Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation. Solomon became the new company's president and served on its board of directors. During his tenure, Lorimar-Telepictures became the largest television production and distribution company in the U.S., producing major television series such as Dallas, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing, and ALF among others. These series were produced at the Lorimar-Telepictures Studios, (formerly MGM Studios), which is now Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Warner Bros. Television
In 1989, Lorimar-Telepictures was acquired by Warner Bros. Television. Solomon became President of Warner Bros. International Television, where he oversaw sales and marketing operations for television cable and satellite companies outside of the U.S. Warner Bros. expanded international telecommunications interests. Solomon is a co-founder of HBO OLE (now HBO Latin America). Solomon co-founded the first satellite-delivered station in Scandinavia (SF Succe), and co-owned a TV and feature film production company in India (Armitraj-Solomon) and France. He was the first international distributor of The Grammys, MTV and E! Entertainment Television, (more commonly known as E!).
Solomon International Enterprises
In 1994, following his tenure at Warner Bros., Solomon began his own television communications company, Solomon Entertainment Enterprises. He distributed independent TV product to the international market and formed a partnership with Canal +, France and UFA, Germany to produce TV movies.