Jason Kilar, the head of WarnerMedia who came on board with ambitious plans for the company’s standalone streaming service and ended up effectively serving half of his tenure as a crippled duck, announced Tuesday that he would be leaving the company.
The widely anticipated departure comes days before WarnerMedia announced a merger with Discovery Inc. is about to complete and a new leadership team comes on board.
“Leading this team has been the honor of my life,” wrote Mr. Kilar in a memo to staff. “My heart is so full and I am extremely grateful to all of you. There is no better team on the planet, and I will relish every last step as I roam the grounds in Burbank a few more times this week, with this team always in my thoughts.”
Mr. Kilar was hired in April 2020 by John Stankey, the chief executive of AT&T, WarnerMedia’s parent company, just weeks into a global pandemic, and a month before HBO Max, the company’s streaming service, was set to debut.
Mr. Kilar, a founder of Hulu and an Amazon veteran, was focused on getting the company’s streaming service on solid ground. Months into his tenure, Mr. Kilar began executing a plan dubbed “Project Popcorn,” his most controversial decision. As the pandemic rages on, Mr Kilar announced in a December 2020 message on Medium that the Warner Bros. 2021 would be released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, a decision that blinded most filmmakers and their representatives.
Streaming analysts applauded the decision, and HBO Max did indeed have a strong year. HBO and HBO Max closed 2021 with more than 70 million global subscribers, exceeding internal expectations, according to AT&T.
But the decision came as a bolt from the blue in Hollywood creative circles. Richard Lovett, co-chair of the Creative Artists Agency, called it the “embodiment of a self-serving business maneuver designed to benefit your business while destroying the industry at the same time.” Filmmakers like Denis Villeneuve, Christopher Nolan and David Chase all criticized it.
Just as Mr. Kilar was executing his vision, his bosses at AT&T were secretly planning to get out of the entertainment business. In February 2021, a month after Project Popcorn began, Mr. Stankey talks with David Zaslav, Discovery’s chief executive, about a merger, a conversation that continued into March and April.
Mr. Stankey kept Mr. Kilar in the dark about the deal until days before it was announced in May. Mr. Zaslav will launch the combined Warner Bros. Acquire Discovery once the merger is complete.
Mr. Kilar also oversaw the February 2022 departure of Jeff Zucker, the head of CNN, a departure that made headlines for weeks. Mr. Zucker said he left because he was in a romantic relationship with an underling, Allison Gollust, and did not disclose it to the company. mr. Kilar provided few details and no alternative explanation, angering much of CNN’s staff.
Two weeks later, Mr. Kilar told employees that Mr. Zucker and Ms. Gollust had committed “violations of company policy,” including CNN’s news standards and practices, a charge they have both denied.
