Turner chairman and CEO John Martin is to leave his role following the $85 Billion merger of AT&T and Time Warner, creating the ‘Warner Media Group’.
Martin, who has been at the helm of Turner for xx years, appears to have been pushed out of the newly formed company by John Stankey.
Stankey, who becomes the head of the newly formed company’s media unit, made the announcement in a memo to staff.
In it, he said; “We have changed how Turner is organised given that John Martin will no longer be with the company as a result of the merger.
“This initial Turner org (organisation) structure will allow me to work more closely with more Turner leaders and accelerate my personal learning of the business as we define our shared priorities across the company.”
Stankey also confirmed that the media unit will be called “WarnerMedia” and is made up of the old Time Warner business.
On the new name and scope of the unit, Stankey added; “WarnerMedia will largely be a naming convention to refer to the collection of brands and businesses of the former Time Warner Inc.
“It will ultimately occupy an even lower profile than the Time Warner Inc. brand. Our important customer-facing brands — HBO, CNN, Warner Bros., TNT, etc. — will all remain unchanged.”
Starkey also addressed concerns with the naming similarities with the former cable operator, adding; “So why change the Time Warner name? The simple answer is that it creates confusion amongst our stakeholders who never learned to distinguish between Time Warner, the media company, and Time Warner, the former cable company.
“Our consumer research suggests this confusion isn’t going away any time soon. So, it is easier and more economical to change the name, than invest in advertising to resolve the confusion.”