Harry Strauss Zelnick (born June 26, 1957) is an American businessman. Born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, he attended

Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School. He is the founder,

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO), and managing partner of

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

firm ZMC, the chairman and CEO of video game company

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...

, and the former chairman of media conglomerate

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, and ...

Early life and education

Harry Strauss Zelnick was born on June 26, 1957, in Boston. His mother, Susan Strauss Manello, died on October 22, 1967, when Harry was ten years old. He and his siblings were raised by their aunt Elsa (née Strauss) and her husband Allan Zelnick (died in 2013). He grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. Strauss Zelnick graduated in 1975 from

in Maplewood, New Jersey and studied

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

and English at

from 1975 until 1979, obtaining a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree with honors. During his time at Wesleyan, he was the national

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

director for the Coalition of Independent College and University Students (COPUS). Zelnick simultaneously enrolled at Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School in 1979, obtaining a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

degree from the former in 1982 and a Juris Doctor from the latter in 1983.

Career

In 1983, he started as vice president for television international sales at Columbia Pictures International Television. In 1986, he joined Vestron Inc. as senior vice president of corporate development. He became executive vice president the following year and was promoted to president in 1988, overseeing all managing operations for the company. He quit in 1989 to join 20th Century Fox as president and CEO before leaving that role in 1993 to join

Crystal Dynamics Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California and part of Embracer Group. The studio developed the '' Gex'', ''Legacy of Kain'', and ''Tomb Raider'' series. Founded in 1992 by Madeline Canepa, Judy L ...

. Zelnick is the chief executive officer and managing partner of ZMC, a

investment firm based in New York City specializing in

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money ( leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loa ...

s and

growth capital Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority investment, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new mark ...

. He founded ZMC in 2001 with a starting capital of . Following an investor-staged takeover of

in 2007, Zelnick became the chairman, chief executive officer, and largest single shareholder of Take-Two. Zelnick was appointed to the board of CBS Corporation in 2018. In 2021, ZMC purchased a controlling interest in

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

, a Chicago-based comedy troupe.

Personal life

Zelnick is Jewish. He has four sisters: Karen Davis, Beth Kaufman, Marci Zelnick Rodriguez, and Laurie Zelnick. His brother, Carl D. Zelnick, died in 1995. Zelnick married Wendy J. Belzberg (the daughter of Samuel Belzberg) in January 1990; their engagement was announced by Belzberg's parents in December 1989. They have two sons, Cooper (born in 1992) and Lucas, as well as a daughter, Leigh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zelnick, Strauss 1957 births American media executives Wesleyan University alumni Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Law School alumni Living people American people of Jewish descent