LOS ANGELES — Ron Meyer, one of Hollywood’s most consistent and longest-serving executives, announced on Tuesday that he was leaving NBCUniversal after 25 years at the company, saying he was the victim of an extortion scheme.
“I recently disclosed to my family and the company that I made a settlement, under threat, with a woman outside the company who had made false accusations against me,” Mr. Meyer, 75, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Admittedly, this is a woman I had a very brief and consensual affair with many years ago,” he added. “I made this disclosure because other parties learned of the settlement and have continuously attempted to extort me into paying them money or else they intended to falsely implicate NBCUniversal, which had nothing to do with this matter, and to publish false allegations about me.”
Mr. Meyer led the Universal film studio from 1995 to 2013, when he was replaced by Jeff Shell, who was named the chief executive officer of NBCUniversal in January. Since 2013, Mr. Meyer had served the company as a kind of statesman, with the title of executive vice chairman and a diminished presence on the Universal lot.
Mr. Shell informed NBCUniversal employees of what he called the “unfortunate news” in an email on Tuesday.
“Late last week Ron Meyer informed NBCUniversal that he had acted in a manner which we believe is not consistent with our company policies or values,” Mr. Shell wrote. “Based on Ron’s disclosure of these actions, we have mutually concluded that Ron should leave the company, effective immediately. We thank Ron for his 25 years of service, and for his significant contributions to NBCUniversal.”
Mr. Meyer’s sudden departure follows the exits of other powerful men in the entertainment industry that started in 2017, when investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed allegations that the film mogul Harvey Weinstein had sexually harassed and abused women for decades. Mr. Weinstein’s film company swiftly imploded; he was convicted of sex crimes earlier this year and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Mr. Meyer is the second high-profile departure from the executive ranks at NBCUniversal this month. Paul Telegdy, the chairman of the media giant’s television entertainment division, was pushed out amid claims of workplace harassment. He is being investigated by outside counsel hired by NBCUniversal after accusations made by the actress Gabrielle Union and others that he fostered a toxic work environment, claims that he has denied.
In 2018, CBS ousted Leslie Moonves, who had led the network for 15 years, after The New Yorker reported that multiple women had accused him of sexual misconduct. He has denied any wrongdoing. Last year, Kevin Tsujihara stepped down as the chief executive of Warner Bros. after The Hollywood Reporter revealed accusations that he had pushed for a woman with whom he had had an extramarital sexual relationship to be considered for film and television roles. Mr. Tsujihara denied any corporate wrongdoing.
Mr. Meyer had a storied Hollywood career. After dropping out of high school at 15, he joined the Marine Corps at 17 and started his movie career at 19 as a messenger for a Hollywood talent agency. After working at William Morris as a television agent, he went on to found the Creative Artists Agency with Michael S. Ovitz and Bill Haber. At CAA, Mr. Meyer represented stars like Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep.
Over the years, he became known in Hollywood for an interest in high-stakes card games, a hobby that ultimately tormented him. “Chronic gambling is an illness and has a lot of stupidity that goes along with it,” Mr. Meyer told The Times in 2007. He said that he had given it up when G.E. acquired the bulk of Universal from the French conglomerate Vivendi in 2003. “That made my decision for me,” he said, alluding to the visibility and management rigor that ownership by the conglomerate would bring with it.
Hired at Universal in 1995 by an earlier owner, Seagram, and its chairman, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Mr. Meyer was initially given the financing to match any competitor. But he squandered much of it on a string of flops that included “Babe: Pig in the City,” “Meet Joe Black” and a “Psycho” remake.
“I had huge financial support from Edgar and failed miserably,” Mr. Meyer told The Times in 2007. Mr. Bronfman slashed the studio’s production pool to $600 million, significantly less than what others were spending at a time when Warner Bros. was establishing its “Harry Potter" franchise and Sony had its “Spider-Man” series underway.
The reduced spending meant smaller films, most of which stopped short of top-level success, even though “The Bourne Identity” and “The Mummy” did well enough to spawn franchises. “King Kong,” a rare big-budget bet in 2005, cost more than $200 million, but ultimately became a winner. Other hits from Mr. Meyer’s tenure included “Erin Brockovich,” “Meet the Parents” and “The Fast and the Furious.”
Unlike many moguls of his generation, Mr. Meyer championed female executives. He was a mentor to Donna Langley, promoting her through the ranks at Universal, where she is now chairman. Mr. Meyer previously helped groom Stacey Snider, who was the studio’s chairman from 1999 to 2006 before she went on to run DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox.
During his 18 years in charge, Mr. Meyer led Universal through four disruptive ownership changes. The company became the property of its current owner, the cable giant Comcast, in 2011.
Mr. Meyer served as a liaison between Comcast, which is based in Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles entertainment industry. His longtime relationship with Steven Spielberg helped the company revive the “Jurassic Park” franchise in 2015, after more than a decade of dormancy.
NBCUniversal has come under financial pressure because of the coronavirus pandemic and has started layoffs. It is eliminating about 10 percent of its full-time work force of 35,000. The film business and its theme parks have been the hardest hit. The parks took a $399 million loss in the second quarter, and the studios division saw sales decline nearly a fifth to $1.2 billion.
Edmund Lee contributed reporting.
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