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Who

The former chief executive of HBO, Fuchs now invests in new media.

Backstory

After earning his law degree from NYU Law, Fuchs worked as an associate at the entertainment law firm Marshall, Bratter, Greene, Allison, and Tucker before stopping off briefly at William Morris and joining a fledgling HBO in 1976. He spent 18 years at the pay TV network—including 11 as CEO—introducing signature events like boxing bouts, big-ticket concerts, and uncensored stand-up comedy specials. One of the most powerful Time Warner execs of the 1990s, Fuchs was handed the reins at Warner Music in 1995 (his chief deputy, Jeff Bewkes, subsequently took over as CEO at HBO) in a bid to shape up the struggling music unit. But after just a few months on the job—which he mostly spent jockeying for Time Warner's top job—he was hustled out the door by then-CEO Jerry Levin. Fuchs didn't leave empty handed: He walked off with an estimated $60 million golden parachute. He's since become an investor in media and internet properties.

Of note

Fuchs shepherded HBO through its early years and helped put the premium cable channel on the map. But it's worth noting that HBO's greatest success, its unsurpassed slate of original programming (like The Sopranos and Sex and the City), came after Fuchs' departure and was championed by his successor, Jeff Bewkes. And unlike Bewkes, who was widely admired by his colleagues during his term, Fuchs' lengthy tenure was considerably more controversial, particularly during his latter years as his Time Warner peers began to bristle at his oversized ego and corporate politicking.

Following his departure from HBO, Fuchs fashioned himself into a media investor and made a number of bets on technology and entertainment companies. He was an early investor in Rufus Griscom's highbrow smut site Nerve.com; he also funded Griscom's online personals business Spring Street Networks, which was sold to Friendfinder in 2005. There were a handful of other less successful investments, including $20 million that went down the drain with MyTurn, a discount PC maker that fizzled in 2001. He also lost the money he invested in Maer Roshan's first incarnation of Radar in 2002. Other Fuchs investments over the years have included Salon, Autobytel, and Wink Communications.

Grudge

Considering it was Levin who brought his career at Time Warner to an abrupt and inglorious conclusion, it's no surprise that Fuchs is not the erstwhile Time Warner CEO's biggest fan. (That Levin forever tarnished his own rep by presiding over the disastrous merger of AOL and Time Warner offers some consolation, though.) He's still nursing the grudge more than a decade later: He badmouthed Levin in a New York article in July 2007; a few weeks before, at an event organized to commemorate the naming of a Time Warner-owned movie theater in Fuchs' honor (which he'd been pushing for since his departure), Fuchs took the opportunity to rip into Levin, reportedly taking out a replica of the $40,000 gold watch Levin had given him upon his departure and hurling it to the ground.

For the record

Be sure not to confuse this Fuchs with the other Michael Fuchs, the real estate developer and partner (with Aby Rosen) in RFR Holdings.

Personal

The unmarried Fuchs has a son and a daughter. He lives in the Village and has a weekend home in Katonah. He also spends a lot of time in Hawaii. So much so, in fact, that he built a resort there, Ke Kailani, where he's now offering up multi-million dollar villas.