His storied career started with a messenger job and ended with a statesman role at one of the biggest entertainment studios.
Ron Meyer, one of Hollywood’s most consistent and longest-serving executives, announced on Tuesday that he was leaving NBCUniversal after 25 years at the company, saying he was the victim of an extortion scheme. “I recently disclosed to my family and the company that I made a settlement, under threat, with a woman outside the company who had made false accusations against me,” Mr. Meyer,75, said in a statement on Tuesday. “Admittedly, this is a woman I had a very brief and consensual affair with many years ago,” he added. “I made this disclosure because other parties learned of the settlement and have continuously attempted to extort me into paying them money or else they intended to falsely implicate NBCUniversal, which had nothing to do with this matter, and to publish false allegations about me.” Mr. Meyer led the Universal film studio from 1995 to 2013, when he was replaced by Jeff Shell, who was named the chief executive officer of NBCUniversal in January. Since 2013, Mr. Meyer had served the company as a kind of statesman, with the title of executive vice chairman and a diminished presence on the Universal lot. Mr. Shell informed NBCUniversal employees of what he called the “unfortunate news” in an email on Tuesday. “Late last week Ron Meyer informed NBCUniversal that he had acted in a manner which we believe is not consistent with our company policies or values,” Mr. Shell wrote. “Based on Ron’s disclosure of these actions, we have mutually concluded that Ron should leave the company, effective immediately. We thank Ron for his 25 years of service, and for his significant contributions to NBCUniversal.” Mr. Meyer’s sudden departure follows the exits of other powerful men in the entertainment industry that started in 2017, when investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed allegations that the film mogul Harvey Weinstein had sexually harassed and abused women for decades. Mr. Weinstein’s film company swiftly imploded; he was convicted of sex crimes earlier this year and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
