Three Top Executives Are Out at WarnerMedia, HBO’s Parent Company

Jeff Zucker, the longtime CNN head, was unaffected. Under Mr. Kilar, he remains the chairman of WarnerMedia’s news and sports units. Christy Haubegger, the chief enterprise inclusion officer, will take over Mr. Coccoza’s role of overseeing the global marketing and communications team.

Mr. Kilar, 48, who came to WarnerMedia after a stint at Amazon, was appointed to his job by John Stankey, a veteran AT&T executive who ran WarnerMedia from June 2018 until May 1. Mr. Stankey became the chief executive of AT&T on July 1, replacing Randall L. Stephenson.

In the entertainment world, Mr. Kilar was considered a thoughtful executive who happened to be the chief executive (and chief architect) of Hulu when streaming was still a novelty. With his bold restructuring on Friday, he has gained a reputation as a forceful Hollywood player.

The changes at WarnerMedia broke apart the team Mr. Stankey had assembled last year, when he ran the division after a three-decade career spent mostly in telecommunications.

In a resignation that got the attention of media insiders, Richard Plepler, the longtime head of HBO who led the network to 160 Emmys, left the company in February 2019. Mr. Stankey effectively replaced him with Mr. Greenblatt, who named Mr. Reilly, the onetime leader of the cable channels TNT and TBS, as WarnerMedia’s head of content.

Despite his evangelism for HBO Max and all things digital, Mr. Kilar said he was a believer in the traditional moviegoing experience. “Tenet,” the much-anticipated Warner Bros. sci-fi film directed by Christopher Nolan, is still on the schedule for a Labor Day release. But Mr. Kilar noted that, even before the pandemic shut down theaters nationwide, the movie business was moving away from long theatrical runs.

“For anyone to suggest that the theatrical construct isn’t going to change over the next few years I think is not paying close attention,” he said. “There will be shortened windows. But in no way is Warner Media stepping away from the deep embrace of theatrical exhibition.”