WarnerMedia ousts top streaming executives as part of restructuring

By Kenneth Li

(Reuters) – WarnerMedia’s Bob Greenblatt and Kevin Reilly, executives who oversaw its HBO Max streaming business, will leave as part of a restructuring, the company said on Friday.

The restructuring is the first major action taken by Chief Executive Officer Jason Kilar, a former Amazon.com executive, who built Hulu.

“We are elevating HBO Max in the organization and expanding its scope globally,” Kilar said in a mail to staff.

Andy Forssell, general manager of HBO Max, will now lead a newly created HBO Max operating business unit, Kilar added.

AT&T Inc hired Kilar to take charge at WarnerMedia as it battles Netflix and Disney for streaming video customers.

Revenue from WarnerMedia segment, which includes HBO, fell 22.7% to $6.8 billion in the second quarter, with the COVID-19 pandemic having a $1.5 billion impact on sales.

WarnerMedia also said it would cut jobs, without disclosing the number of employees impacted.

(Reporting by Ken Li in New York, Ayanti Bera and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Sriraj Kalluvila)