On Thursday, Richard Plepler announced that he was exiting his position as the CEO of HBO, becoming one of the biggest step-down news stories this year ever since AT&T bought the owner of HBO, Time Warner, back in 2016.
Reportedly, Plepler’s announcement to exit the company came just two days after the US government was denied the right to stop the deal from happening. The federal appeals court rejected the US federal government’s request to thwart the transaction between the two companies.
In an email to many of his colleagues on Thursday, Plepler said that “it is the right time” for him to leave the company. David Levy, the broadcasting chief, is also leaving the organization claims the anonymous insider, but the source’s name must stay private due to their lack of authorization to reveal the information.
Plepler has a long history of success as a network executive; he championed shows such as Game of Thrones, True Blood, as well as other news companies like Vice News as well as Axios. John Stankey, the Warner Media Chief executive, said in a statement that Richard’s time as an executive has been incredibly fruitful for the company.
According to a report from ABC News, the Trump administration tried to block the deal due to the fear that this takeover was yet another step toward a world in which industries are dominated by relatively few companies. It seems like somewhat of a strange move for the Trump administration, due to their pro-business ethics.
Time Warner is a massive company already, owning HBO, one of the most successful networks of all time, CNN, as well as the Warner Brothers Studios. There has been much fear that AT&T’s purchasing of the company will thwart consumer choices and harm the TV industry as a whole.
This comes after The Walt Disney Company began acquiring the shares to 20th Century Fox, which has been prophesized by industry insiders for many years, including an infamous episode of The Simpsons, where Disney is shown as the owners of 20th Century Fox.
Source:http://celebrityinsider.org/