Warner Bros. Chairman, CEO Kevin Tsujihara to Step Down

Photo: Drew Angerer

Warner Media has stated that their CEO Kevin Tsujihara will be stepping down as the chief executor of Warner Bros. company as they investigate his relationship with a young actress.

Two weeks after he won an expanded role under a restructuring at AT&T's WarnerMedia unit, Mr. Tsujigara resigned. When Mr. Tsujigara resigned, all the top executives of Time Warner Inc. (AT&T acquired Timer Warner Inc. and renamed it Warner Media) decided to leave. Ever since the departure of Mr. Tsujigara, Warner Media has yet to name a successor. Mr. Tsujihara's relationship with actress Charlotte Kirk was discovered when a Hollywood Reporter reported that their relationship began in 2013. The article included multiple text messages between Mr. Tsujihara and Ms. Kirk where Mr. Tsujihara stated that he promised he would cast Ms. Kirk in any roles Warner had to offer. Later in an interview, Mr. Tsujihara stated he deeply regretted that his personal actions have caused embarrassment to the company and anyone who associated themselves to the company. When the article and interview aired, Ms. Kirk rose to defend herself and said she did not have anything to do with the leaking of the text messages and that she realized she had made many poor choices throughout her career, choices that have helped her grow and mature as a woman and professional actor. Ms. Kirk continued to say that Mr. Tsujihara did not promise her anything because their relationship ended years ago and that she was very sad to hear about his departure.

Since AT&T is investigating the matter with the help of an outside law firm, they stated that Mr. Tsujihara acknowledged that his mistakes were inconsistent with the company's leadership expectations and keeping him as the head of the company could possibly impact the company's ability to execute going forward. This affects the consumers because many of the top employers at WarnerMedia left when they were told Mr. Tsujihara resigned. After analyzing this article, this situation relates back to the marketing strategy because of the reputation of the company. After the relationship of the CEO was made public, the public image and integrity of the company began to suffer. Since many individuals did not want to be associated with Warner Media after the leaked relationship the stock for Warner Media began to decrease.

I chose this article because of the affection I have towards WarnerMedia and the many movies, shows, and parks I loved as a child.

LINK: https://www.wsj.com/articles/warner-bros-chairman-ceo-kevin-tsujihara-to-step-down-11552929877?mod=hp_lead_pos4