Ann Sarnoff to leave WarnerMedia – NYT

(Reuters) – Ann Sarnoff, the chief executive officer of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group, will leave the company, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing people briefed on the matter.

The report comes on the same day as WarnerMedia Chief Executive Officer Jason Kilar announced his departure, just ahead of the closing of a merger between the AT&T unit and Discovery Inc.

A representative of AT&T did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Earlier in the day, Variety reported that Andy Forssell, HBO Max executive vice president and general manager, is leaving the company.

Sarnoff joined WarnerMedia in 2019 and oversaw HBO and HBO Max, the Warner Bros studio, cable channels and the consumer products division. Forssell, who reports to Kilar, also joined the firm in 2019.

AT&T on Feb. 1 agreed to spin off WarnerMedia in a $43 billion transaction to merge its media properties with Discovery. Shareholders of Discovery and the U.S. Department of Justice have cleared the deal.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav will lead the merged entity, AT&T had said earlier.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)