T AT&T Inc

By Joe Flint and Ben Fritz 

Three senior Warner Bros. executives will oversee operations at the television and film studio in the wake of Kevin Tsujihara's resignation Monday after an investigation into a relationship he had with an actress several years ago, according to people with knowledge of the company's plans.

Movie chief Toby Emmerich, television head Peter Roth and Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Williams will serve as co-heads of the studio and report directly to John Stankey, chief executive of WarnerMedia, a unit of AT&T Inc., according to these people.

They said the moves are temporary while Mr. Stankey determines a new leadership structure at Warner Bros., which had been run by Mr. Tsujihara since 2013.

Mr. Tsujihara stepped down after revelations about a relationship he had with actress Charlotte Kirk in which he suggested in text messages that he would help to arrange meetings for her that could lead to roles for her in Warner movies. She eventually landed minor roles in two Warner Bros. films. The Hollywood Reporter published an article earlier this month detailing the relationship.

In a memo to Warner Bros. staff Monday, Mr. Tsujihara said his "continued leadership could be a distraction and an obstacle to the company's continued success." Ms. Kirk has said her relationship with Mr. Tsujihara was consensual and that Mr. Tsujihara hadn't promised her anything.

Mr. Stankey said on Monday the company is searching for a permanent successor.

Mr. Emmerich has been sole head of the motion-picture group for just a year, but is a veteran movie executive at the studio and its New Line Cinema label, where he worked on the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies. Since taking over the entire film business, his moves have included revamping the approach to DC Comics superheroes like Batman and Aquaman.

Mr. Roth, president and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Television, is seen as the dean of television studio chiefs. During his tenure, Warner Bros. has remained one of the most prolific producers of content for broadcast and cable. It has managed to continue to make shows for the big broadcast networks despite not owning an outlet. Much of that is because of the production talent that calls Warner Bros. home, including Chuck Lorre and Greg Berlanti, whose credits include "The Big Bang Theory" and "Riverdale," respectively.

Mr. Roth joined Warner Bros. Television in 1999. Before that, he headed both the Fox broadcast network and its television production studio.

Ms. Williams is a relative newcomer to Warner Bros. She became executive vice president and chief financial officer in 2015. Prior to that, she was a chief operating officer of the NFL Network and chief financial officer for the Core Media Group.

The shake-up at Warner Bros. is the latest tremor at WarnerMedia, which restructured its Turner and HBO units, leading to the resignations of David Levy and Richard Plepler who had overseen those operations for several years.

Mr. Tsujihara himself came to power after serving as part of an interim triumvirate that headed Warner Bros. after the exit of the previous CEO, Barry Meyer. A relative newcomer to film production, he had previously overseen the studio's home-video and digital-media operations at a time when online video-streaming and piracy had solidified themselves as serious threats to the future of Hollywood's traditional power structure.

--R.T. Watson contributed to this article.

Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com and Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 19, 2019 14:48 ET (18:48 GMT)

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