WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar is reuniting with his longtime business partner.
Kilar has named Richard Tom to the role of chief technology officer at AT&T-owned WarnerMedia. Tom replaces Jeremy Legg, who will move to AT&T’s telecom business, AT&T Communications, to lead technology services as executive vp and CTO.
The transition comes less than a week after Legg led the technical aspects of the HBO Max launch. The streaming service’s engineering and technology teams will now report to Tom, as will the advertising technology teams at Xandr.
Tom has worked alongside Kilar at many stages of their careers, including as CTO at Hulu during its early years. He also co-founded video startup Vessel with Kilar and, after its sale to Verizon, stayed on with the company as CTO of digital entertainment.
“Richard is a rare bird in that he brings deep technical chops, a dogged customer focus, clear and bold vision, and a magnetism that attracts other world class builders to him,” Kilar said in a statement. “WarnerMedia’s future will be as much about technology as it will be about storytelling, and having Rich report to me as our technical leader strongly signals that.”
In his new role, Legg will report to AT&T Communications CEO Jeff McElfresh. “Jeremy, through his leadership of the technology organization, has had such a positive and material impact on WarnerMedia, with last week’s launch of HBO Max being just the most recent example,” Kilar added. “I know I speak for all of us when I say how glad I am that Jeremy won’t be going far. I wish Jeremy the best of luck in what is sure to be a period of wonderfully positive impact at AT&T.”
