David Geffen Tries Out A New Act

It's less an office than a room built for schmoozing. No desk. An L-shaped sofa. Two sleek telephones. And a wedge of warm, Southern California sunshine streaming through the window. Outside, miniskirted women and ponytailed men scurry down halls hung with posters advertising the rock groups Guns N' Roses and Nirvana. But inside, the bustle is replaced by the steady cadence of David Geffen's voice.

If he were alone, Geffen would be making phone calls. Lots of them. Whether he's sitting in his office, riding in the back of his chauffeured Lincoln, or flying to New York in his new Gulfsteam IV jet, it's a rare moment that he doesn't have a phone pressed to his ear. Contacts are Geffen's stock in trade: Working them better than anybody else made him the world's largest independent record producer. A knack for dealmaking, buckets of energy, a legendary toughness--all have been crucial to Geffen's heady success. But the reason David Geffen emerged last year as the richest man in Hollywood is his uncanny ability to discover raw talent, feed it through his Rolodex, and parlay it into rivers of money.