The end credits are rolling for the senior leadership of WarnerMedia as its top two executives announced their departure from the company.
The moves come in advance of Warner Media parent AT&T Inc. and Discovery Inc.’s expected closing of a deal to combine their media assets into a new publicly traded company dubbed Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.
Jason Kilar, the chief executive of WarnerMedia who led one of the most radical overhauls in the entertainment industry, told staff he plans to exit his post Friday.
Also giving notice is Ann Sarnoff, chair and chief executive of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group. That unit houses the Warner Bros. TV and movie studios as well as programming platforms HBO, HBO Max, TNT and TBS along with consumer products. She is also the highest-ranking female executive at the company.
Incoming Warner Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav isn’t planning to replace either Mr. Kilar or Ms. Sarnoff, people familiar with his thinking said. Mr. Zaslav is seeking to eliminate layers of management and have major operating units report to him directly. A handful of senior Discovery executives including Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels are also expected to have key roles in the new company.
In an interview, Mr. Kilar said he has no immediate plans for his next step. He added that he would continue to focus on technology, storytelling and innovation. “I’m not going to retire and sit on a beach," he said.
During his nearly two-year tenure leading the Warner Bros. studios and cable channels including HBO, CNN and TNT, Mr. Kilar made moves that shook up both the company and the industry. Most recently, he made the call that CNN chief Jeff Zucker should step down amid recent controversies at the news network.
The biggest shift was releasing the entire 2021 slate of Warner Bros. movies on the nascent HBO Max direct-to-consumer streaming service at the same time as introducing them in movie theaters.
The strategy, known as “Project Popcorn," had two goals: feed fresh content to HBO Max to build up its subscriber numbers and get films to the public when most theaters were closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
High-profile directors and agents attacked the decision. They argued that putting the films on HBO Max simultaneously with their theatrical releases would cheapen the product and damage the movie business.
“We took a fair bit of heat for the decision," Mr. Kilar said.
Ms. Sarnoff also played a key role in developing and implementing the strategy, including overseeing negotiations with talent to cut new deals to give the company rights to stream the movies on HBO Max.
The gamble paid off, as HBO and HBO Max now have nearly 73.8 million subscribers, up 20 million from before Mr. Kilar took over in May 2020. Warner Bros. since has resumed putting movies into theaters first—as the pandemic abates and they reopen—adopting a 45-day theatrical window before films land on HBO Max, which now has its own large slate of original movies and shows.
Rival media giants including Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp. adopted strategies similar to “Project Popcorn," Mr. Kilar said.
Internally, Mr. Kilar led streamlining the Turner, HBO and Warner operating units, which had been run as stand-alone fiefs. That strategy also was soon embraced by others, including Disney.
The move and other consolidation efforts came with a human cost: Approximately 2,000 positions, including some of the most senior leaders of WarnerMedia, were eliminated.
Mr. Kilar also took a keen interest in gaming and had that unit report directly to him, whereas in the past it was layered within Warner Bros. In 2021, the unit posted record profits, and its game “Harry Potter: Magic Awakened" has surpassed last year’s biggest movie hit “Godzilla vs. Kong" in terms of revenue, Mr. Kilar said.
Both Mr. Kilar and Ms. Sarnoff were handpicked by AT&T Chief Executive John Stankey to operate WarnerMedia for the telecommunications giant. Ms. Sarnoff was the first woman to run such a large entertainment operation. Before joining Warner Bros. in 2019, she was president of BBC Studios Americas. She also held senior positions at the WNBA and Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones.
Mr. Kilar said he was kept in the dark about AT&T’s talks with Discovery. Rather than immediately resign after the deal was announced, Mr. Kilar opted to stick it out. He traveled the globe to push HBO Max, staying involved in the company’s day-to-day operations.
His last few months weren’t without drama. Mr. Kilar made the decision to push out CNN’s Mr. Zucker for failing to disclose a personal relationship with CNN marketing and communications chief Allison Gollust, who also subsequently resigned.
The revelation of the relationship was part of an investigation into whether former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo had misled his superiors about the extent of the help he was providing his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in fighting allegations of sexual harassment. Mr. Kilar took heat for the decision from CNN staffers at town-hall-style meetings.
“There are times in this role where decisions need to be made that may not be popular but are important to make. Being a leader is not a popularity contest," Mr. Kilar said.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text
