Amazon’s future in streaming video has come into greater focus in 2022 with the acquisitions of Thursday Night Football and MGM and the debut of LOTR: The Rings Of Power. Now, the onetime bookseller is headed into 2023 without the main architect of its expansion into TV and film via Prime Video, Jeff Blackburn. His retirement, announced on Friday, capped a month of a series of executive moves that laid out Amazon’s plans for the next stage of its evolution as an entertainment brand.
The executive, who has been with the company for two decades, returned from a yearlong sabbatical in May 2021. (Image: Amazon)
A long-time top Jeff Bezos lieutenant, Jeff Blackburn, is returning to Amazon in a new position, SVP of global media and entertainment. He will oversee all entertainment business that are being consolidated in one unit, including Prime Video and Amazon Studios, Music, Podcasts/Wondery, Audible, Games, and Twitch. He starts June 7.
Jeff Blackburn, whose 22-year run at Amazon culminated in a role overseeing the company’s streaming efforts, has wrapped up his one-year sabbatical and announced his exit from the company. The news, which came via a memo posted on the company’s intranet, was not unexpected.
