WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar resigns ahead of Discovery merger

Jason Kilar
(Image credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for CNN)

WarnerMedia is officially getting a new boss as it merges with Discovery.

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced Tuesday he'll be resigning from his position. "With the pending transaction with Discovery nearing close, now is the right time to share with each of you that I will be departing this amazing company," Kilar said.

Kilar joined WarnerMedia in May 2020 after previous gigs at Hulu and Amazon. During his tenure, he oversaw a controversial decision to release every 2021 Warner Bros. movie in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously, which received pushback from theaters and directors including Christopher Nolan. A co-producer of one of the movies affected, The Matrix Resurrections, is currently suing Warner Bros. over the move, arguing it harmed the film's box office performance. By the end of 2021, though, HBO Max topped subscriber forecasts.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"We took a fair bit of heat for the decision," Kilar told The Wall Street Journal.

In 2021, Kilar also oversaw another controversial decision to ask CNN President Jeff Zucker to resign over an undisclosed relationship with a colleague. Kilar was later grilled by CNN staffers, who reportedly argued in a tense meeting that the "punishment didn't fit the crime."

"There are times in this role where decisions need to be made that may not be popular but are important to make," Kilar told the Journal. "Being a leader is not a popularity contest."

After WarnerMedia's merger with Discovery was announced last year, The New York Times reported Kilar was kept in the dark about it and was hiring a legal team to negotiate his exit, though he ended up staying on for almost a year after this.

The WarnerMedia-Discovery merger was approved in February, and Variety reports it could officially close as soon as this Friday.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.