“I’ve heard from multiple sources in Los Angeles, including an editor at the L.A. Times, that David Geffen told a Timesman that were he to succeed in buying the paper, his first order of business would be firing a reporter in the business section who had crossed him. If Geffen has that on his to-do list — much less at the top — he’s the wrong man at the wrong Times.

(r.) David Geffen with (l. to r.) Dreamgirls director Bill Condon, costars Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose and Beyonce Knowles

“Yes, he has a canny eye for quality, from Joni Mitchell to Jackson Pollock. But he could make Wendy McCaw, the multimillionaire owner who has decimated the Santa Barbara News-Press, look Pulitzer-obsessed.
“Those who have dealt with Geffen while covering [the Hollywood filmmaking] business should find that obvious. Geffen is famously vindictive. One reporter now at the Times once called me in tears after an encounter with him on the phone (one truly has to be on the receiving end of his verbal savagery to appreciate it). And does anyone think he’ll tolerate articles that annoy him or his friends? And he has lots of friends — from Hollywood to Washington, from Steven Spielberg to Hillary Clinton.” — Slate‘s Kim Masters dishing on Geffen and his possible purchase of the Times.