An eye-popping number of WarnerMedia execs are exiting the company ahead of its merger with Discovery, reportedly thanks to boss David Zaslav.
It all kicked off Tuesday when WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced he’d be stepping down, as well as HBO Max boss Andy Forssell and Studio chief Ann Sarnoff also revealed they were departing the company. On Wednesday, reports surfaced that six more executives from WarnerMedia would also be exiting.
According to Deadline, all of these executive departures — including Kilar, making for nine in total — were part of a massive firing spree by Discovery boss David Zaslav, the man who will take the helm as CEO of the newly formed company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
The other executives who were shown the door include CFO Jennifer Biry; Christy Haubegg, who handled corporate communications and was the Chief Inclusion Officer; Jim Cummings, EVP Chief Human Resources Officer; Tony Goncalves, EVP Chief Revenue Officer; Jim Meza, EVP General Counsel; and Richard Tom, Chief Technology Officer.
Along with the purge of executives, Zaslav is expected to cut the fat to the corporate structure of the new company in general, per his reputation, with one example being that Studio chief Sarnoff’s position will be dropped entirely from Warner Bros. Discovery hierarchy following her exit.
The newly merged company could debut on Wall Street as early as Monday, according to the report. That would more or less represent the final book-end for the $43 billion corporate merger that was announced last year, a deal that was officially greenlit by Discovery shareholders with a vote last month.
Some fans of Zack Snyder’s Justice League and other DC franchise titles from the director who has since been ousted as the visionary of the DC Extended Universe have speculated the corporate restructuring could result in the restoration of the so-called “SnyderVerse.”