Jason Alan Kilar (/ˈkaɪlər/;[1] born April 26, 1971) is an American businessman. He is a member of the boards of Wealthfront and Roblox, and was CEO of WarnerMedia, from May 2020 to April 2022.[2] He was previously a five-year board member of Opendoor; an Amazon executive. Kilar is a co-founder of Vessel, and of Hulu.

Early life and education

Kilar was born on April 26, 1971, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Boca Raton, Florida, during his junior year and ended up graduating from Spanish River Community High School in 1989.[3] He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. He graduated in 1993 and continued his education at Harvard Business School, earning an MBA in 1997.[4][5]

Career

Kilar was an executive at Amazon from 1997 to 2006, including as the senior vice president of its worldwide application software division.[6] He helped found the streaming company Hulu in 2007 and became its CEO.[7] On January 4, 2013, he announced his resignation from the company after five years, together with Hulu CTO Rich Tom.[8] The next month, Kilar joined the board of directors for DreamWorks Animation.[9]

In 2014, he announced Vessel, a subscription video service, of which he was CEO. The company was backed by investment firms Benchmark, Greylock Partners, and Bezos Expeditions, and then sold to Verizon Communications in 2016.[10][11]

On April 1, 2020, WarnerMedia then-CEO John Stankey announced that Kilar would be assuming his CEO role effective May 1, 2020, and that Kilar would be reporting to Stankey, set to remain COO of AT&T.[12] On April 24, 2020, it was announced that Stankey would become CEO of AT&T on July 1, 2020.[13]

In December 2020, Kilar announced that Warner Bros. films released in 2021 would be released on HBO Max at the same time as they were released in theaters. The prior practice was to release films to theaters for a 90-day period before releasing them in other formats.[14] The move was decried by many in Hollywood, including Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, while also being described as plainly violating the contractual rights of some of those who worked on the films.[15][16][17] In March 2021, Kilar drew more ire by claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic was "really good for ratings" in conversation with Fox Corporation's Lachlan Murdoch.[18] He later apologized for making this comment and added that "I would like nothing more than for this pandemic to be well behind us".[19]

Kilar announced on April 5, 2022, that he would be stepping down as the WarnerMedia CEO, amid the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc.[20]

Additional posts

He is a member of the board of directors of Wealthfront, and joined the Roblox board in September 2023.[21] In June 2024, he resigned[22] from the board of directors of Opendoor, which he'd joined in 2019.[23] Kilar has also been a board member of DreamWorks Animation, which he'd joined in 2013,[24] Univision,[25] Habitat for Humanity,[26] and Brighter.[27]

References

  1. ^ "Vessel Builds its New Video Platform on AWS". Amazon Web Services. April 14, 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  2. ^ Rodriguez, Ashley. "Meet the 20 most powerful WarnerMedia execs and their top deputies. Here are the leaders helping HBO Max battle Netflix and defining AT&T's TV strategy". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  3. ^ La Bella, Laura (2015). Hulu and Jason Killar. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 9781477779217.
  4. ^ M.A.S. (2009). Thompson, Clifford (ed.). Current Biography Yearbook. New York, NY: H.W. Wilson Co. pp. 289–92. ISBN 978-0-8242-1104-2.
  5. ^ Sellers, Bob (2010). Forbes Best Business Mistakes: How Today's Top Business Leaders Turned Missteps into Success. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470598771.
  6. ^ Bryan Pietsch (April 1, 2020). "WarnerMedia names former Hulu and Amazon exec Jason Kilar as CEO". Business Insider. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  7. ^ Lauren Feiner; Alex Sherman (April 1, 2020). "WarnerMedia replaces CEO with Hulu co-founder Jason Kilar". CNBC. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  8. ^ Kafka, Peter (January 4, 2013). "Let Jason Kilar Take a Bow". All Things D. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  9. ^ Gardner, Eriq (April 16, 2013). "Lucian Grainge, Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar Join DreamWorks Animation's Board of Directors". Billboard. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  10. ^ Spangler, Todd (2016-10-26). "Verizon Acquires Vessel, Will Shut Down Jason Kilar's Video Service". Variety. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
  11. ^ "Scaling Culture | Jason Kilar, former Hulu CEO". YouTube. June 2017. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  12. ^ Lee, Edmund; Koblin, John (April 2020). "Warner Media Shake-Up: Jason Kilar Replaces John Stankey as Chief Executive". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  13. ^ "AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson to step down, COO Stankey to take over". CNBC. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
  14. ^ Sperling, Nicole (2020-12-13). "WarnerMedia Chief Has Become a Movie Villain to Some in Hollywood". New York Times. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  15. ^ "Christopher Nolan Rips HBO Max as "Worst Streaming Service," Denounces Warner Bros.' Plan". Hollywood Reporter. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  16. ^ Atkinson, Claire. "WarnerMedia's Jason Kilar provokes wrath of Hollywood and cinema owners with move to shift movies to streaming". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  17. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (2020-12-10). "CAA Boss Richard Lovett To WarnerMedia's Jason Kilar Over HBO Max: "Blindside Entirely Unacceptable To CAA And The Clients We Represent"". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  18. ^ Sorkin, Andrew Ross; Karaian, Jason; Hirsch, Lauren; Abdul, Geneva (2021-03-05). "What's Next for Fox and CNN". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  19. ^ Montgomery, Blake (2021-03-04). "WarnerMedia CEO Apologizes for Saying the Pandemic Is 'Good for Ratings'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  20. ^ Whitten, Shane (April 5, 2022). "WarnerMedia's Jason Kilar will depart CEO role as Discovery merger nears close". CNBC. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  21. ^ Spangler, Todd (2023-09-14). "Jason Kilar, Former WarnerMedia CEO, Joins Roblox Board of Directors". Variety. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  22. ^ "Opendoor beats forecasts, ramps up home purchases". RealEstateNews.com. 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  23. ^ Clark, Kate (2019-10-14). "Opendoor appoints CFO, CPO". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  24. ^ Perez, Sarah (2023-09-15). "Former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar joins Roblox's board". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  25. ^ Jill Goldsmith, Dade Hayes (2021-05-17). "WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar Urges His Team "To Continue To Keep Focus," Said To Have Hired Legal Team To Negotiate Exit After Just A Year At Helm". Deadline. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  26. ^ "Habitat for Humanity International welcomes two members to its board of directors | Habitat for Humanity". www.habitat.org. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  27. ^ Millerpublished, Stuart (2020-12-07). "Jason Kilar". Broadcasting Cable. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
Business positions
Preceded by WarnerMedia CEO
2020–2022 		Succeeded by
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Kilar
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