Ann Sarnoff is the first woman to lead Warner Bros. “It is meaningful. I’ve gotten emails from LinkedIn and other places from people saying, ‘Thank you on behalf of my daughters and my granddaughters''
has yet to begin her new job as chairman-CEO of Warner Bros., but she already has deep family ties to the entertainment company.
Sarnoff, 57, is the first woman to lead the studio that will mark its centennial in 2023. She says she had a “goose bumps moment” during her visit to the lot when she walked into the Steven J. Ross Theater and saw the plaque bearing the names of the studio’s past CEOs. Her name is not yet etched there but will be once she formally starts in late August.
WarnerMedia and AT&T made a point of recruiting a woman for the Warner Bros. job, in part because of the circumstances surrounding Tsujihara’s exit and also to offset the dearth of gender and ethnic diversity among top leaders of WarnerMedia companies. Regardless of the circumstances, those who know Sarnoff say she is more than equipped for the challenges ahead.
“In a company that is as loosely run as Viacom was back then, there’s so much sibling rivalry between divisions,” Laybourne says. “There was no sibling rivalry here. It was all about ‘Let’s go do something great.’” Sarnoff’s range of business and creative experience is a plus as Warner Bros. faces a period of reinvention under new ownership and amid a fast-changing landscape. She is in for a learning curve on the film side and a cross-country move as she relocates to Los Angeles from New York. But she feels energized by both prospects.
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