Robert Blair, president, Warner Bros. Discovery international TV distribution, is departing the company after 25 years. His position will not be replaced.
In an internal memo to staff, seen by Variety, Gerhard Zeiler, Warner Bros. Discovery president, international, wrote: “Last year, we unveiled a new org structure for international, which we believed best positioned us for success at that time. But we also acknowledged that in an ever-changing industry and market, we would need to continue to evolve in a thoughtful and strategic way, along with the climate around us.
Seven months into 2023, although we remain confident about our trajectory as a business, we are at another inflection point, and one where the global economy has not rebounded as quickly as we had hoped.
As such, today I’m announcing that Robert Blair, president, WBD international TV distribution, will be departing WBD. We will not be replacing his position.
After much deliberation, we believe this is a necessary structural change to our team design that both flattens and streamlines the content licensing organization. Robert will transition over the summer and partner closely with me to even further empower the local content licensing team who remain accountable for the majority of our content licensing revenue Internationally.
My humble thanks to Robert for his outstanding leadership, talent, and effort to help us get where we are today. Robert’s contribution to the company in his 25 years has been outstanding and can be measured in several billions of dollars of sales-contracts he made possible every single year. Despite being known as tough negotiator, he is respected by all of his clients he dealt with. He is also an exceptional leader, who mentored many talents within the company and is admired and valued by his team.
This change is certainly no reflection of his performance, but rather a shift we need to make to continue to refine our efficiency and cost structure. I wish Robert the very best in his next exciting chapter.”
Blair joined Warner Bros. in 1998 as general manager for Canada. In 2000, he was promoted to VP and general manager for the territory. In 2017, he was appointed to the London-based role of executive VP for international distribution, in charge of TV sales. In 2019, he was promoted to president, Warner Bros. Discovery international TV distribution, with oversight of licensing for TV, film and digital programming from Warner Bros., HBO and Turner as well as all the international sales teams.