The end is near for MCA.
Universal Music’s MCA Records label will become part of Geffen Records, officially wiping from Hollywood the venerable name of the company founded in 1924 by Jules Stein and later run by the legendary Lew Wasserman, The Post has learned.
At the same time, Geffen Records – currently a part of Vivendi label Interscope Geffen A&M – will once again become a full-service music label, sources say. Geffen head Jordan Schur is expected to head the new label.
A spokesperson for Interscope was unavailable for comment.
The move is likely to include perhaps 20 layoffs at MCA, according to a source, and will substantially expand the power base of Jimmy Iovine, the head of Interscope.
Schur will report to Iovine, who reports to Universal Music boss Doug Morris; MCA’s former president, Jay Boberg, reported directly to Morris.
Boberg, who was MCA’s chief since 1995, resigned in January amid a steep sales decline at the label.
Craig Lambert, MCA’s senior vice president for promotion, has run the label since Boberg’s exit.
Among MCA’s best-known acts are Mary J. Blige and Blink 182. Geffen boasts such acts as Limp Bizkit, Cold and Counting Crows.
Amid the restructuring, several underperforming artists will likely be jettisoned, sources say.
The move is designed to streamline the West Coast operations of Universal Music, the world’s largest music company, before a possible selloff.
The music group’s parent, Vivendi, is currently weighing offers for all of its entertainment assets, and the music division could be sold as part of that deal.
MCA, which stands for Music Corporation of America, was started in the 1920s as a Chicago talent agency. Over the years, it gradually became an entertainment giant by gobbling up Hollywood properties and launching into television production.
In 1959 MCA acquired Universal Pictures and Decca Records.
MCA was purchased by Seagram in 1995 for about $5.7 billion. Later, its music division was renamed Universal Music and its movie business Universal Studios, with MCA Records the only unit to keep the MCA name.
Swan song
MCA, the storied record label of Mary J. Blige, will be history after Universal Music folds it into Geffen Records. A timeline:
1924 – Ophthalmologist Jules Stein founds Music Corporation of America in Chicago.
1936 – Lew Wasserman joins company, which soon moves to Hollywood and buys talent agencies with clients like Greta Garbo, Betty Grable and Jimmy Stewart.
1946 – Stein retires and Wasserman takes helm as CEO.
1958 – Universal Studios acquired.
1959 – MCA Inc. goes public.
1962 – Decca Records acquired.
1990 – Geffen Records acquired.
1991 – Matsushita buys MCA for $6.1 billion.
1995 – Seagram gets 80 percent of MCA for $5.7 billion and renames it Universal Studios the next year.