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CNN, TVWeek

President of Turner Leaving the Company After Three Decades

Mar 1, 2019  •  Post A Comment

In another high-profile casualty of AT&T’s acquisition of Turner and the rest of WarnerMedia, Turner President David Levy is out the door after more than three decades with the company, CNN reports.

In an internal memo, Levy told staffers: “I have decided the time is right to leave my role. I am ready for a professional change.”

He added that Turner “has been a significant part of my life and I will watch from the sidelines as this company continues to produce more amazing moments.”

News of Levy’s departure, along with that of HBO CEO Richard Plepler, comes “just a few days after an appeals court ended the lengthy legal battle over AT&T’s June 2018 takeover of WarnerMedia, which includes CNN and many other television and film assets,” CNN reports. “With AT&T’s deal now assured, the wireless giant is bringing in new executives and emphasizing a streaming TV mission.”

Levy’s memo strikes a similar tone to the one sent out by Plepler, in which he wrote: “Hard as it is to think about leaving the company I love, and the people I love in it, it is the right time for me to do so. In the past weeks, I’ve thought a lot about the incredible journey of this company in the nearly 28 years that I have been blessed to be here. It’s a journey of great pride and accomplishment because so many of you, and many others before us, have made HBO a cultural and business phenomenon.”

“Plepler did not give a specific reason for his departure, but it’s clear that AT&T’s takeover was a driving factor,” CNN reports.

“Both Plepler and Levy have reported to John Stankey, an AT&T (T) veteran who is the CEO of WarnerMedia, since the deal took effect last June,” CNN adds. “In the coming days Stankey is widely expected to bring the HBO and Turner divisions together, possibly under former NBC executive Robert Greenblatt. Stankey and Greenblatt have reportedly been talking about a deal, though nothing has been announced.”

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