With Atlanta-based Phil Kent’s pending departure from Turner Broadcasting as chief executive officer and chairman, corporate power shifts more to New York City.
Kent said Wednesday he is stepping down after 11 years as top executive. His successor as chief executive will be John Martin, who has been chief financial and administrative officer at Turner’s parent company, Time Warner.
Martin works out of New York, where Time Warner is based.
Time Warner bought Turner Broadcasting 17 years ago. Most Turner power players remained in Atlanta in the 1990s but about a decade ago, more key decision makers began moving to New York.
For instance, when Jim Walton stepped down last year as CNN president, he was replaced by Jeff Zucker, who stayed in New York.
A Time Warner spokesman said Martin will have offices in both New York and Atlanta, but it’s premature to say if he plans to keep a residence here.
In an interview, Kent said a CEO’s residence matters less than in the past. “This is a virtual global company I can run from my Blackberry as long as I show up everywhere with regularity,” he said. “Turner will always be a major force in the Atlanta community.”
About 6,000 of Turner Broadcasting’s 13,000 worldwide employees are in Atlanta, primarily at the Techwood campus in Midtown and CNN Center downtown. Steven Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, is based here. So is HLN executive vice president and general manager Scot Safon.
Martin takes over as chief executive Jan. 1, 2014. Kent will stay on as chairman next year until a replacement is named.
Kent said Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes asked him two weeks ago about renewing his contract and Kent decided it was time to move on.
“I’ve been thinking about it a long time,” he said. “The company is in fantastic shape. I have a great management team in place … I thought this was a good time to do a CEO transition.”
He said Martin has stronger ties to the investor community than he does: “That’s become increasingly important because we now represent more than 50 percent of Time Warner’s earnings.”
Bewkes, in a memo to staff, said of Martin: “He has one of the sharpest financial and analytical minds I have seen, is a broad and strategic business thinker, is both a great listener and communicator, and has boundless energy.”
Despite ratings challenges at CNN's domestic TV unit the past decade, CNN's overall operations have been solidly profitable. And most Turner Broadcasting properties have thrived, including TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and TruTV.
Drama-heavy TNT and comedy-focused TBS are regularly top 5 networks on basic cable. TruTV has morphed from Court TV to a reality-based, younger male-dominated demographic thanks to shows such as “Hardcore Pawn” and “Impractical Jokers.” Cartoon Network continues to draw a huge kids demographic while Adult Swim is dominant among men 18 to 34. Under Kent’s watch, CNN Headline News became a distinctive court-driven, housewife-seeking HLN.
“From a programming standpoint, you have to give Kent good grades,” said Brad Adgate, senior vice president of research at New York-based Horizon Media, which does media research. He also credited Kent for moving aggressively into sports, including the NBA, Major League Baseball and the NCAA championship.
About the Author
