While its theatrical division reported a record revenue year worldwide, Sony Pictures confirmed a major restructuring in its moribund home entertainment department Wednesday.
Among the changes:
— Matt Brown, executive VP of international, will now also oversee the North American sales operation, with longtime company denizen Marshall Forster, senior VP of North America, leaving the company.
— The Advanced Technologies group headed by Don Eklund will be moved out of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and into the Sony Pictures Technologies unit led by Chris Cookson. Eklund will remain with the company in some other capacity.
— Executive VP Bob Rubin will be leaving the company, while Sean Carey, senior VP of digital sales, will be transitioning to a new post of some kind outside SPHE. Meanwhile, Sony corporate development operative John Calkins will be moved into the home entertainment division as executive VP of global digital and commercial innovation.
“We announced to you in December that SPHE is conducting a review of our organization to proactively confront the changing economic model in our industry,” wrote Sony home entertainment president David Bishop in a memo to staff. “Our choice is simple — we can make strategic choices today to direct the evolution of our business, or be overwhelmed by changes that are imposed on us by forces outside of our control.”
