After a more than 20-year tenure at the company, Amazon’s head of global entertainment Jeff Blackburn will be leaving his position. He is expected to retire from his post in January.
Blackburn, who returned from a year-long paid sabbatical in May 2021, oversees music, audio and entertainment, games and video for the company. On Friday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Blackburn shared the news about Blackburn’s exit via an internal message to Amazon employees.
The news comes as Amazon juggles several changes at the company, one of which includes buying the long-standing MGM Studios in a $8.5 billion acquisition. The merger added MGM’s entire catalogue to Prime Video and Amazon Studios, a slate comprised of 4,000 film and 17,000 TV episodes. Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon’s Amazon Studios was tasked with managing the operations of MGM’s film and TV sectors, with the company’s SVP of Price Video and Amazon Studios, Mike Hopkins, manages its premium cable network Epix and unscripted content. Hopkins will now report directly to Jassy.
The news comes as Amazon juggles several changes at the company, one of which includes buying the long-standing MGM Studios in a $8.5 billion acquisition.
Deadline was the first to report the news.