Nathaniel Brown leaves as head of communications at Warner Bros. Discovery Corp. out

Deadline has learned that Nathaniel Brown Warner Bros. Leaving Discovery as chief commissioner. We hear that it was a friendly farewell. Brown will leave his post next month.

“I realize there is never a perfect or easy time for such a transition, but the start of a new year feels as good as any other year,” Brown said in a letter to employees (read it in full below ). In the near future, Brown plans to take some time off before returning to corporate communications.

In a letter to employees, WBD CEO David Zaslav praised Brown, saying, “I was incredibly fortunate to have him by my side during one of the most pivotal and transformative times for our industry.”

Brown was appointed to the position following the completion of the merger in May 2022.

Brown led global communications and media relations and was the chief spokesman for the Conglom. He previously held this position at Discovery Inc. and Zas as the company’s EVP of global communications. In total, there were five years between Discovery and the new WBD merger for Brown.

In his email today (read it in full below), Zaslav said the company is looking for a replacement for Brown. Meanwhile, Laura Watson, head of executive comm., and Katie Martin Kelley, EVP of communications at Warner Bros Motion Picture Group, WBD Corp. lead communication on an interim basis. supervise.

Brown joined Discovery in 2019 after spending seven years as SVP of corporate affairs for 21st Century Fox and its predecessor News Corp. was active. He previously led communications for MTV and XM Satellite Radio after starting his career in corporate media at Sony BMG Music. He played a key role in some of the industry’s largest and most significant mergers and acquisitions, including Discovery’s merger with AT&T’s Warner Media, the sale of 21st Century Fox to Disney and the creation of SiriusXM.

Before the holidays, headlines hit the media that Zaslav sat down with Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish at Paramount’s New York headquarters in Times Square about a possible merger. Wall Street immediately dismissed the idea for both troubled entertainment companies, as their stock prices fell the morning after the news.

“It’s almost like that movie scene where everyone is throwing their hands in the air and walking around in circles not knowing what to do,” Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners said on CNBC last month about the par-WBD chatter.

Here is the note about Brown’s farewell to Zaslav:

Everyone –

I have news that I want to share with you personally. Nathaniel Brown, our Chief Communications Officer, is leaving the company after a truly remarkable five years. Nathaniel is incredibly talented, one of the absolute best in the industry, and I was incredibly lucky to have him by my side during one of the most pivotal and transformative times for our industry.
Since joining us in 2019 after a successful stint at 21st Century Fox, he has been a tireless and impressive advocate for the company and for me. Among his many accomplishments, he played a critical role in positioning Discovery for its acquisition of WarnerMedia and continued to deftly navigate a variety of cross-currents in the creation and restructuring of WBD.

Over the years, Nataniël has built cohesive, high-quality teams and earned the well-deserved respect and admiration of leaders and colleagues at all levels of the organization for his collaborative approach and expertise. At the same time, he developed close relationships with press representatives across the media landscape. Of course, we greatly appreciate Nataniel’s extraordinary effort and dedication and wish him all the best and continued success.

We will conduct a careful and thorough search internally and externally for a new Head of Communications and will inform you when we have selected a candidate. In the meantime, I have our head of executive communications, Laura Watson, and the head of communications at Warner Bros. Katie Martin Kelley of Motion Picture Group has been tapped to lead interim corporate communications.

Please join me in thanking Nathaniel for all he has done!

David

Brown spoke with his own internal memo to staff:

Everyone,

I have some personal news that I would like to share with you. After five good years at Discovery and now WBD, I am stepping down from my role as Chief Communications Officer.

I realize there is never a perfect or easy time for such a transition, but the start of the new year feels as good as any. The past few years have been fast and unforgettable. I joined Discovery in 2019 after a great time at 21st Century Fox, which culminated in the sale of 21CF to Disney. Since then I have had the incredible opportunity to work with DZ as part of his leadership team and it has been an extraordinary journey.

especially in recent years when DZ Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia and Warner Bros. Discovery founded. The team worked tirelessly to create the new company and restructure it for the future. It was a phenomenal experience and I will be forever grateful to DZ and the many colleagues at WBD for their support, cooperation and friendship.
I especially enjoyed being on site with what I believe to be the best communications team in the industry. It is a testament to your incredible skill, perseverance, compassion and commitment. Ultimately, it’s about people, and we spent many of our waking hours together in meetings, on Zoom calls, and on the phone 24/7. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to fight the good fight with.

I look forward to taking time. I plan to travel a bit and hope to have the opportunity to become a better partner, son, brother and friend. Maybe it’s even time to get a new puppy. Finally, I will dive back into this job that I love, a job that has always taught me new things and led me into the world of fantastic and fascinating people and interesting challenges. I look forward to the next chapter and will keep you posted.

I will be switching in about a month. The company is looking for my successor both internally and externally. Meanwhile, Laura Watson will lead corporate communications and Katie Martin Kelley will serve on an interim basis to handle company press inquiries. As I said, this is a fantastic team and I am confident that you will continue to support them and each other in this next phase.

Thank you for everything – I will always cherish the many wonderful memories we share and look forward to our paths crossing again in the not too distant future. Until then, as your biggest fan, I’ll be cheering you on from the stands and wishing you all the best.

Nathanael