Jennifer Salke will step down from her role as head of Amazon MGM Studios, the company said Thursday in an internal email viewed by the Times.
Salke won’t be going far. She’ll be starting a new production entity that has a first-look deal with Amazon MGM Studios for both film and TV, according to the memo from Mike Hopkins, Salke’s boss.
“As I’ve been considering my next chapter, I’ve always been searching for that moment where I was positive that our work had set up Amazon MGM Studios for even more success in the long term,” Salke said in the email sent to staff. “When I look at the teams we’ve put in place, our amazing leaders, and the incredible slate of films and shows we’ve got in the pipeline, I realized now is that moment.”
Salke joined Amazon Studios in 2018 from NBC Entertainment. At the time, Amazon was looking to make moves into Hollywood and expand beyond its e-commerce roots.
Its major productions for Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service include “The Rings of Power,” “Fallout” and “Reacher.”
Amazon acquired MGM Studios in 2022 for $8.5 billion. It recently secured a deal to take over creative control of the James Bond franchise from the Broccoli family.
The company does not plan to fill Salke’s position. Film head Courtenay Valenti and TV head Vernon Sanders will now report directly to Hopkins, the head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.