{"id":250182,"date":"2021-05-15T00:25:08","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T21:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/blackburn-returns-to-amazon-to-help-new-ceo-understand-hollywood\/"},"modified":"2021-05-15T00:25:08","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T21:25:08","slug":"blackburn-returns-to-amazon-to-help-new-ceo-understand-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/blackburn-returns-to-amazon-to-help-new-ceo-understand-hollywood\/","title":{"rendered":"#Blackburn returns to Amazon to help new CEO understand Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Blackburn returns to Amazon to help new CEO understand Hollywood<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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A former top lieutenant to Jeff Bezos has made a quick about-face that\u2019s raising eyebrows \u2014 returning to Amazon after a five-week stint in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Blackburn, a 22-year company veteran who helped build the Seattle-based e-tailing giant\u2019s video-streaming service, was called back by Bezos after briefly joining Bessmer Venture Partners, a prominent venture-capital firm that has backed fast-growing tech companies like Shopify, Twilio, Twitch and Docusign.<\/p>\n

Blackburn was summoned to to run Amazon\u2019s entire entertainment business \u2014 which has mushroomed into a juggernaut that includes Prime Video, Amazon Studios, Music, podcasts and gaming site Twitch \u2014 pick up the slack for incoming chief executive Andrew Jassy, a pointy-headed cloud-computing whiz who \u201cdoesn\u2019t understand Hollywood,\u201d according to a source close to the company. <\/p>\n

One Hollywood insider noted that when Bezos announced that Jassy would grab the reins as CEO from him later this year, \u201ceveryone said he doesn\u2019t really understand Hollywood and he doesn\u2019t quite get entertainment and gaming \u2026 He doesn\u2019t quite like entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amazon did not return requests seeking comment. Blackburn could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

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\"Returning
Returning Amazon exec Jeff Blackburn (left) and IMDb Founder and CEO Col Needham at a dinner January 2020. Insiders say Blackburn\u2019s knowledge of entertainment norms is a plus for Amazon.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images for IMDb<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The source said that while the entertainment division is not the e-commerce giant\u2019s core business, it\u2019s a prestigious, buzzy wing of Amazon that Bezos has cultivated. Case in point: This year, Amazon Studios racked up 12 Oscar nominations, of which it won two Oscars for \u201cSound of Metal,\u201d a story of a heavy metal drummer played by Riz Ahmed who loses his hearing. <\/p>\n

All eyes are on the studio, which forked over $250 million for the TV rights to make a five-season production of \u201cThe Lord of the Rings.\u201d Although Amazon hasn\u2019t provided a release date yet, the first season of the series<\/a> is on track to be the most expensive season of TV ever with an eye-popping $465 million budget, according to reports. <\/p>\n

With that kind of pressure, Bezos wanted a trusted hand to steer the ship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Bezos thought, \u2018I really need some support in this area with someone who could speak the language,’\u201d the source said, citing Bezos\u2019 farewell remarks to Blackburn when he announced his departure from Amazon in late February.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you talk, I find myself leaning in and listening carefully \u2014 always,\u201d Bezos said of Blackburn.<\/p>\n

According to an internal memo from Jassy to employees<\/a> on Thursday, Blackburn had shown interest in returning to Amazon, which presented top brass with the opportunity to reorganize the business. Jassy said all entertainment business heads from units like Prime Video and Amazon Studios, Music, Podcasts\/Wondery, Audible, Game<\/a>s, and Twitch, will report to Blackburn when he rejoins the company on June 7. <\/p>\n

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\"Jeff
Jeff Blackburn and his wife, Anne (right), with actress Michelle Williams at a 2017 Amazon Oscars celebration.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images for Amazon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The exec\u2019s new title will be senior vice president of Global Media<\/a> & Entertainment.\u00a0He will report to Bezos and then Jassy when the latter takes over as CEO in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cJblack\u2019s interest in returning to Amazon presented us with a good opportunity to combine our entertainment businesses in a single org under a leader who knows them well,\u201d Jassy said the memo. \u201cOften, the best time to make org changes is when things are going well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 51-year-old exec, who most recently was Amazon\u2019s senior vice president of business and corporate development, took a year-long hiatus in 2020 only to re-emerge in late February of this year to announce his departure. Blackburn at the time cited the various roles he held at Amazon from working on mergers & acquisitions and advertising to building Amazon Music, Prime Video and Amazon Studios. <\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my 22 years, I\u2019d like to think I never stopped helping carry those heavier bags,\u201d he said in his farewell memo. <\/p>\n

After \u201cgrinding\u201d away for decades, Blackburn was looking to leave for some time, a source said, and put in place his own succession team led by Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Amazon Video and Studios. <\/p>\n

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\"Jeff
Jeff Blackburn and Amazon Studios\u2019 worldwide head of motion pictures Jason Ropell at a 2017 Amazon Oscars celebration.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

So, when Blackburn\u2019s next move was to join Silicon Valley\u2019s Bessemer Venture Partners, some in the entertainment world were skeptical. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think when people arrive it\u2019s harder than they thought,\u201d the source said. \u201cBuilding small companies is a pain in the ass. When you come from a giant company you don\u2019t realize how tricky it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going into a company where you\u2019re \u201cnot the big boss anymore,\u201d and where you have to \u201cshare ideas,\u201d was a wake up call to the exec, the source added. <\/p>\n

Bessemer did not return requests for comment. Earlier this month, the firm told Geekwire<\/a> that Blackburn had shifted to an advisory role five weeks after joining the firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fully support Jeff\u2019s decision to transition to a new advisory role as a special limited partner of Bessemer Venture Partners,\u201d a firm spokesperson said. \u201cWe understand his desire to return to an operating role and wish him the best of luck.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Blackburn returns to Amazon to help new CEO understand Hollywood” A former top lieutenant to Jeff Bezos has made a quick about-face that\u2019s raising eyebrows \u2014 returning to Amazon after a five-week stint in Silicon Valley. Jeffrey Blackburn, a 22-year company veteran who helped build the Seattle-based e-tailing giant\u2019s video-streaming service, was called back by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/jeff-blackburn-amazon-return.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[105757,2758,1394,27943,71631,71745],"class_list":["post-250182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-5-14-21","tag-amazon","tag-amazon-prime","tag-amazon-studios","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-venture-capital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}