WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar to Exit Company Once Discovery Deal Closes

EXCLUSIVE: There’s been a lot of biting rumors around STX Entertainment over the last four months, from a potential sale to Lionsgate to possibly filing Chapter 11. These are not coming to realizations as the Hustlers and Bad Moms studio can now breathe a sign of relief, having fulling closed its sale to The Najafi Companies with Birch Grove LP and 777 Partners now also providing financing.

investigation by The Associated Press and the Toronto Star.The problems date back to the founding of Los Angeles-based Break The Floor Productions; as the company has grown into an industry powerhouse, its leaders perpetuated a culture of sex and silence, according to interviews with dozens of former and current staff and students.Break the Floor’s reach extends across the entertainment industry to some of the biggest names in music, television and social media. Alumni and faculty have danced on stage with Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, at the Oscars and the Super Bowl.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWarner Bros. Discovery and AT&T each ended the trading week with their respective shares selling at a 3% increase from where the stocks opened Monday.The newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery, born out of the $43 billion merger of Discovery, Inc.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDavid Madden, the president of Berlanti Productions, is departing the company, Variety has confirmed.Madden has been the president of Berlanti Productions since 2020. He will leave the company at the end of the month, when his contract expires. No replacement has been named at this time.In his time at the Warner Bros.

Walker Scobell, who stars in Netflix’s The Adam Project, has been cast in the titular role of Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

David Zaslav will be pounding the Diet Cokes, his soft drink of choice, this week as he sprints across the country to Warner Bros. Discovery’s various outposts.Monday, the first day the new company begins trading on the Nasdaq under the “WBD” ticker, will kick off with a visit to Hudson Yards for a series of informal meet and greets with WarnerMedia employees before he heads to Washington, D.C. for a meeting with senior executives and CNN anchors at roughly 6 p.m.

closed on Friday.Zaslav’s travel agenda will take him to WarnerMedia’s global headquarters in New York on Monday, Warner Bros. offices in Atlanta on Tuesday, WarnerMedia/HBO offices in Culver City on Wednesday, and concluding with a town hall at WarnerMedia offices on the iconic Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank, according to the individual.

“Saturday Night Live” paid tribute to future Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in a cold open that had her visiting the ghosts of historical figures in the Oval Office.Jackson, played by Ego Nwodim was greeted by James Austin Johnson’s President Joe Biden, who she teased about not being able to pronounce her name.“Bet you can’t say that three times fast,” Nwodim said.“I’m shocked I was able to say it one time slow,” Johnson admitted, before bragging about fulfilling his campaign promise to place a black woman on the nation’s highest court.“One campaign promise down, 74 more to go,” the fake Biden cracked.“I was happy to do my part. Work twice as hard as white man all my life, then spend a week listening to Ted Cruz call me a pedophile,” the new justice said of her contentious confirmation hearings.Biden then left Jackson in his office to commune with the spirits of Americans that paved the way for her historic confirmation.Kate McKinnon’s Ruth Bader Ginsberg delivered one of her trademark “Gins-burns” about Cruz.

Discovery and WarnerMedia have closed their $43 billion merger, creating a top-scale media player and streaming contender and ending an ill-fated foray into entertainment by AT&T.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaAs Discovery closes its deal for WarnerMedia, John Stankey, the AT&T chief who oversaw the telecom company’s abandoned foray into the media world, bid farewell to his soon-to-be former colleagues. Stankey led AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV and Time Warner in 2015 and 2018, before replacing Randall Stephenson as CEO role of AT&T in July 2020.“My respect and appreciation for those I have worked closely with is enduring, and I will miss continuing to learn and problem solve with you,” Stankey wrote.

AT&T CEO John Stankey, who decided last spring to spin off WarnerMedia into a $43 billion merged entity with Discovery, has sent a bouquet to WarnerMedia staff as the deal gets set to close.

For decades, WarnerMedia and Discovery had largely co-existed independently. They have lived in separate universes with virtually no business interactions, as unscripted television is their main area of overlap. The Discovery networks work primarily with independent producers and not studios like Warner Bros TV, which has only produced one reality show for a Discovery net via its Shed subsidiary

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday, cementing her place in history as the first Black woman to serve on the nation's highest court.Jackson's confirmation as the 116th justice in U.S. history received bipartisan backing, with a final vote of 53 to 47 in the upper chamber. Three Republicans, Sens.

previously reported would be expected to kick off his tenure with in many ways a clean sweep of the top executives and replace with his own execs. More to come…

Ann Sarnoff, chairman and CEO at WarnerMedia’s studios and networks, is also exiting her post, individuals with knowledge told TheWrap. Sarnoff will be departing her current role effective at the closing of the proposed combination of Discovery, Inc.

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who is stepping down this week before the company’s merger with Discovery closes, takes pride in being “first over the wall” with a day-and-date streaming movie strategy.

Jason Kilar, the former Hulu and Amazon exec who has led WarnerMedia as CEO since May 2020, has formalized plans to exit the company on the eve of its merger with Discovery.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced Tuesday he is stepping down ahead of the completion of Discovery’s acquisition of the company, which is expected to occur April 11.“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 in a memo sent to WarnerMedia staff. “There are many feelings one could have in a moment like this, but for me there are none bigger, or more lasting, than the feelings of gratitude and love that I have for this team, this company, and this mission. I’ve never been more fulfilled professionally.

Samuel L. Jackson will return to Broadway next season after a 10-year absence with a revival of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama The Piano Lesson, to be directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson in her Broadway directorial debut.