Dive Brief:
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Entertainment conglomerate WarnerMedia Wednesday named Jennifer Biry its new CFO. Biry replaces Pascal Desroches, who will become CFO of parent company AT&T.
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Biry comes with more than two decades of financial leadership at AT&T Communications, most recently as CFO of its group mobility and entertainment businesses. She will lead all of WarnerMedia's financial operations and report directly to CEO Jason Kilar.
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"It's an honor to be part of a company [creating] stories that provide connection and inspiration for others," Biry wrote in a LinkedIn post following the announcement. "I look forward to being part of the team [inspiring] and [influencing] the next generation of leaders."
Dive Insight:
As CFO of AT&T's mobility and entertainment organizations, Biry oversaw annual revenue of $120 billion and $27 billion in operating income.
While serving as senior vice president of finance for AT&T's technology organization between 2016 and 2018, Biry managed annual expenses of $30 billion for network deployment, technology development and global operations, the company said.
"While Jennifer's extensive experience in successfully managing the financial functions of large, complex businesses is certainly valuable, what is even more relevant in my opinion is her high judgment and razor-sharp insight into WarnerMedia's biggest challenges and opportunities," Kilar said in a statement. "Jennifer fully understands and appreciates all that we are doing, and need to do, as a team and a business."
The announcement comes amid a series of management changes at WarnerMedia and AT&T. The former Time Warner conglomerate has revamped its entertainment operations amid a reorientation to spotlight the expansion of its newest streaming product, HBO Max.
News of Biry's promotion came the same day as WarnerMedia's announcements of a string of promotions across its management in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Included among the promotions are Jesper Steenberg, who currently oversees European HBO distribution, and will now lead business development, digital distribution and trade marketing for WarnerMedia's services in EMEA, and Matthias Heinze, who currently oversees Turner's commercial operations in Germany and Central Europe, who will now manage affiliates and ad sales businesses in Central and Eastern Europe.
Yet in the company's most recent round of layoffs, it slashed more than 1,000 jobs.
The cuts follow WarnerMedia's August layoff of 600 workers from its Warner Bros. studio. In that round, Warner Bros. motion picture distribution chief Ron Sanders, worldwide television distribution chief Jeffrey Schlesinger and CFO Kim Williams departed the company, The L.A. Times reported.
Desroches, who has served in financial executive roles at Time Warner and Turner, will move into John Stephens' role at AT&T. Stephens announced his retirement last month after nearly 30 years with the company. Desroches will report to the telecom giant's CEO, John Stankey.
Stephens' retirement follows that of Randall Stephenson, AT&T's longtime chairman and CEO, who stepped down earlier this year following nearly 40 years with the telecom. Stephenson's retirement elevated Stankey from COO of WarnerMedia to chief executive of AT&T.