Amazon poached Sony exec and former Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins to be its head of entertainment
- Chairman of Sony Pictures Television and former Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins joined Amazon as its new head of entertainment.
- The role was made vacant in August of last year when Amazon SVP Jeff Blackburn announced he was taking a sabbatical.
- Hopkins will report directly to Jeff Bezos, although it's not yet clear whether he will join the elite team of Amazon executives the "S-Team."
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Amazon just made a massive hire.
Mike Hopkins, chairman of Sony Pictures Television and former CEO of Hulu is joining Amazon as its new head of entertainment, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the Journal, Hopkins will officially join Amazon later this month, where he will oversee Prime video as well as Amazon's TV and movie studios, and where he will report directly to CEO Jeff Bezos.
Hopkins is partially replacing Senior Vice President of entertainment, advertising, and business development Jeff Blackburn, who announced in August he was taking a a year-long sabbatical from Amazon. The Journal viewed a memo to Amazon staff sent by Blackburn:
"Mike comes to us with over 20 years of industry experience at Fox, Hulu, and Sony. He has an extensive track record as a global business leader in media, film and TV - negotiating landmark content and distribution agreements, running marketing operations, leading product/tech teams, and overseeing production of breakthrough television content," the Journal cited his note as saying.
Before his sabbatical, Blackburn was a member of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' elite "S-Team" of executives. It is unclear whether Hopkins will now be made a member of the S-Team.
Amazon has been plugging its original content, competing with streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. In its Q4 earnings release last month the company boasted that Prime Video received eight Golden Globe nominations, and it now counts 150 million Prime members.
