It is not exactly a lateral move going from serving President Obama to serving the President (and CEO) of Warner Bros. Discovery, but Robert Gibbs still has his work cut out for him.
Gibbs, who was President Barack Obama’s first White House press secretary, has joined Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) as its chief communications and public affairs officer, the company announced on Tuesday. As of August 5, 2024, he will oversee its corporate and business communications as well as its public affairs. In other words, he will be David Zaslav‘s direct mouthpiece.
Zaslav could use one. His former comms chief, Nathaniel Brown, exited in January, a bit ahead of all that “Coyote vs. Acme” drama. Brown was certainly in the thick of things for the “Batgirl” saga.
In a press statement announcing Gibbs, Zaslav called his new direct report “the right leader” for “this transformative time in our industry.”
For WBD (and others), this transformative time in our industry sometimes includes cutting one’s losses on unreleased content, turning its original long-term amortization schedule into a present-day tax write off. Zaslav and his CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels famously did just that with “Batgirl” in 2022 and repeated the process with its Looney Tunes movie in 2024. Neither will see the light of day. The general consensus is that “Batgirl,” which was intended as a straight-to-streaming film, was not a very good movie. Those who worked on (or have seen) “Coyote vs. Acme,” which had been destined for theaters, say that one was worth saving.
The creative community had a major problem with both of those financial decisions — especially the latter. To be fair to Zaslav, he’s got like $45 billion in debt to pay off. (Counterpoint: $30 million or so in savings is a drop in that very, very deep bucket.)
“At this transformative time in our industry, Robert is the right leader to assume this new, critical global role as we continue to grow the Warner Bros. Discovery brand and presence around the world,” Zaslav said in a press release. “Robert is an insightful and respected leader with experience spanning Fortune 500 companies, the White House, and winning political campaigns. He will be an invaluable part of the team as we create the most captivating stories and content for consumers around the world. I am thrilled to welcome him to WBD.”
“I couldn’t be happier to join Warner Bros. Discovery and to help tell the incredible stories of so many iconic brands across entertainment, news, and sports,” Gibbs added. “I’m particularly excited to work with the global team to fully and clearly capture WBD’s vision and communicate the meaningful growth potential in front of us. I am looking forward to getting started and being a part of this world-class organization.”
Gibbs was most recently a partner at PR firm Bully Pulpit International. From 2015 to 2019, he was the global chief communications officer for McDonald’s. Gibbs was previously the Obama press secretary and an assistant to the president from January 2009 to February 2011. He started working for Obama in 2004 as communications director for his U.S. Senate campaign. Gibbs held the same role during Obama’s Senate tenure and his 2008 presidential campaign. When Gibbs left the White House, he did not fully leave Obama: Gibbs served as a senior advisor to President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
