Jeff Blackburn to retire as head of Amazon’s global entertainment group

Jeff Blackburn retires.

The head of Amazon’s global entertainment group will leave the company in January after more than two decades with the retail giant and streaming platform. The changes were announced on Friday via internal memos from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Blackburn himself.

The news comes a year and a half after Blackburn returned from a sabbatical with a new role leading the company’s global entertainment group, which included overseeing the combined music, audio entertainment, gaming and video business.

Blackburn’s decision to retire comes after a busy week at Amazon. The e-commerce giant this week fully brought MGM into its executive ranks after closing on the legendary studio’s $8.5 billion purchase in May. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke was put in charge of overseeing MGM’s film and television divisions, while senior vice president Mike Hopkins got premium cable network Epix and unscripted content (through MGM’s Chris Brearton). With Blackburn’s exit, Hopkins will report directly to Jassy. Salke, who got oversight of the film from MGM, reports to Hopkins.

Prior to his sabbatical, Blackburn had been a key intermediary between Amazon HQ, Amazon Studios and director Jennifer Salke as Amazon Prime competes in an increasingly competitive streaming space with Netflix and new entrants to Hollywood studios.

With Blackburn retiring, Jassy said Hopkins would continue to manage Prime Video, Amazon Studios and MGM and report directly to the CEO. Steve Boom will now add Audible, Twitch, and gaming in addition to Amazon’s music and podcast teams, also reporting to Jassy.

Here are Jassy and Blackburn’s reminders:

I wanted to share the news that Jeff Blackburn has decided to retire from Amazon.

Jeff joined Amazon in 1998 after helping lead the company through its IPO at Deutsche Bank. He has worked extensively for more than two decades, including helping build our 3P Marketplace, advertising businesses, Amazon Studios / Prime Video and Music, as well as leading our A9 / Search and CorpDev and BusDev organizations.

As you know, Jeff returned to Amazon in May of last year to lead our media and entertainment businesses (Prime Video and Amazon Studios, Music, Podcasts/Wondery, Audible, Gaming and Twitch). For the past year and a half, he has helped prepare us for continued success in media and entertainment. To name a few successes, in its first season, Rings of Power broke all previous Prime Video records for most viewers and generated more Prime sign-ups worldwide during its launch window than any other content previous one; Season 1 of Thursday Night Football on Prime generates higher viewership across the board than last year’s linear TV results for TNF, even with the broad 18-34 demographic where viewership grew 20% compared to last season; and we recently closed and integrated the acquisition of MGM. Amazon wouldn’t be the same company without Jeff, and I want to thank him for his many contributions to the company’s success so far and in the future.

We will take advantage of this moment to make some leadership changes. Mike Hopkins, who leads Prime Video, Amazon Studios and MGM, will continue to lead these teams and report directly to me. Steve Boom, who led our Music and Podcast teams, will also now oversee our Audible, Twitch and Games businesses and report back to me as well. Mike and Steve are both great leaders with lots of experience and I look forward to working more with them (and their teams).

This transition will take place effective January 1, although Jeff will remain at Amazon until early 2023 to ensure a smooth transition.

Feel free to share the news with your teams as you wish.

Andy

The team, some news today:

I plan to retire from Amazon in January, after more than 25 years and having worked closely with the company since its IPO in 1997. It has been an exciting 18 months – working with all of you at GME and launching some of our biggest and boldest entertainment and sports projects ever. But I’ve decided to spend 2023 differently, dedicating more time to my family, and I’m convinced it’s the right decision for me. Andy and I have been working on a transition plan and will be sharing these details soon, stay tuned.

Amazon’s opportunities in media, entertainment and sports have never been greater. I see exciting times for all of you. Please note that I will remain close… as a fan, mentor, and ambassador for Amazon’s creative enterprises, forever. I am so thankful for all the close friendships, over these 25 years, and for all the teams, studios, streaming services and businesses we have been able to build together.

Thank you wonderful Amazons. –jnero