Jason Kilar
Born
Jason Alan Kilar

(1971-04-26) April 26, 1971 (age 52)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BSBA)
Harvard University (MBA)
Occupationformer CEO of WarnerMedia
EmployerWarnerMedia
Known forFounding CEO of Hulu, founding CEO of Vessel, SVP at Amazon, CEO of WarnerMedia
Board member ofDreamWorks Animation, Wealthfront, Brighter, Univision Communications, Habitat for Humanity
SpouseJamie Kilar
Children4

Jason Alan Kilar (/ˈkaɪlər/;[1] born April 26, 1971) is an American businessman. He was the CEO of WarnerMedia from May 2020 to April 2022.[2] He was previously an Amazon executive, the founding CEO of the short-lived Vessel, and the CEO of Hulu.

Early life and education

Kilar was born on April 26, 1971, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Boca Raton, Florida, during his junior year and ended up graduating from Spanish River Community High School in 1989.[3] He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity. He graduated in 1993 and continued his education at Harvard Business School, earning an MBA in 1997.[4][5]

Career

Kilar served as an executive for Amazon from 1997 to 2006, including as the senior vice president of its worldwide application software division.[6] He helped found the streaming company Hulu in 2007 and became its chief executive officer (CEO).[7] On January 4, 2013, he announced his resignation from the company after five years, together with Hulu CTO Rich Tom.[8] The next month, Kilar joined the board of directors for DreamWorks Animation.[9]

In 2014, he announced Vessel, a subscription video service, where he was CEO and backed by investment companies Benchmark, Greylock Partners, and Bezos Expedition until the site was eventually sold to Verizon Communications in 2016.[10]

On April 1, 2020, WarnerMedia then-CEO John Stankey announced that Kilar would be assuming the role effective May 1, 2020. Stankey announced that Kilar would be reporting to Stankey, who will remain COO of AT&T.[11] On April 24, 2020, it was announced that Stankey will become the CEO of AT&T on July 1, 2020.[12]

In December 2020, Kilar announced that Warner Bros. films released in 2021 would be released on a streaming service at the same time as they were released in theaters. The prior practice was to release films to theaters for a 90-day period before releasing them in other formats.[13] The move was decried by many in Hollywood, including Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, while also being described as plainly violating the contractual rights of some of those who worked on the films.[14][15][16] In March 2021, Kilar drew more ire by claiming that COVID-19 is "really good for ratings" in conversation with Fox Corporation's Lachlan Murdoch.[17] He later apologized for making this comment and added that "I would like nothing more than for this pandemic to be well behind us".[18]

Kilar announced on April 5, 2022, that he would be stepping down as the WarnerMedia CEO in face of the soon-to-be-completed merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Vessel Builds its New Video Platform on AWS". Amazon Web Services. April 14, 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  2. ^ Rodriguez, Ashley. "Meet the 20 most powerful WarnerMedia execs and their top deputies. Here are the leaders helping HBO Max battle Netflix and defining AT&T's TV strategy". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  3. ^ La Bella, Laura (2015). Hulu and Jason Killar. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 9781477779217.
  4. ^ M.A.S. (2009). Thompson, Clifford (ed.). Current Biography Yearbook. New York, NY: H.W. Wilson Co. pp. 289–92. ISBN 978-0-8242-1104-2.
  5. ^ Sellers, Bob (2010). Forbes Best Business Mistakes: How Today's Top Business Leaders Turned Missteps into Success. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470598771.
  6. ^ Bryan Pietsch (April 1, 2020). "WarnerMedia names former Hulu and Amazon exec Jason Kilar as CEO". Business Insider. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  7. ^ Lauren Feiner; Alex Sherman (April 1, 2020). "WarnerMedia replaces CEO with Hulu co-founder Jason Kilar". CNBC. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  8. ^ Kafka, Peter (January 4, 2013). "Let Jason Kilar Take a Bow". All Things D. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  9. ^ Gardner, Eriq (April 16, 2013). "Lucian Grainge, Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar Join DreamWorks Animation's Board of Directors". Billboard. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  10. ^ "Scaling Culture | Jason Kilar, former Hulu CEO". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  11. ^ Lee, Edmund; Koblin, John (April 2020). "Warner Media Shake-Up: Jason Kilar Replaces John Stankey as Chief Executive". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  12. ^ "AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson to step down, COO Stankey to take over". CNBC. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  13. ^ Sperling, Nicole (2020-12-13). "WarnerMedia Chief Has Become a Movie Villain to Some in Hollywood". New York Times. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  14. ^ "Christopher Nolan Rips HBO Max as "Worst Streaming Service," Denounces Warner Bros.' Plan | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  15. ^ Atkinson, Claire. "WarnerMedia's Jason Kilar provokes wrath of Hollywood and cinema owners with move to shift movies to streaming". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  16. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (2020-12-10). "CAA Boss Richard Lovett To WarnerMedia's Jason Kilar Over HBO Max: "Blindside Entirely Unacceptable To CAA And The Clients We Represent"". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  17. ^ Sorkin, Andrew Ross; Karaian, Jason; Hirsch, Lauren; Abdul, Geneva (2021-03-05). "What's Next for Fox and CNN". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  18. ^ Montgomery, Blake (2021-03-04). "WarnerMedia CEO Apologizes for Saying the Pandemic Is 'Good for Ratings'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  19. ^ Whitten, Shane (April 5, 2022). "WarnerMedia's Jason Kilar will depart CEO role as Discovery merger nears close". CNBC. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
Business positions Preceded byJohn Stankey WarnerMedia CEO 2020–2022 Succeeded byDavid Zaslav
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