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Joel Stillerman Out at Hulu Amid Reorganization

Author: Natalie Jarvey / Source: The Hollywood Reporter

The content chief started at Hulu in June 2017 but is leaving as part of a larger reorganization at the company that includes the hiring of a new CTO and CDO and the departure of a handful of senior executives. — Joel Stillerman

Hulu content chief Joel Stillerman is leaving the streamer amid a companywide reorganization.

Under newly appointed CEO Randy Freer, Hulu is restructuring its content team around content partnerships and original programming. As a result, the company is eliminating the role of chief content officer that Stillerman has held since June of last year.

Two other senior executives, senior vp partnerships and distribution Tim Connolly and senior vp experience Ben Smith, are also departing as part of the reshuffling, which is impacting not only the content team but also the technology and product teams, marketing group and data and anaytics divisions.

The reorganization come at a pivotal moment for Hulu, which has seen significant growth over the last year to over 20 million total subscribers on the success of breakout The Handmaid’s Tale and the launch of its new live television service. At the same time, the future of the company — which is managed as a joint venture of Disney, 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal and Time Warner — has been up in the air since Disney announced plans to aquire most of the Fox assets, including its 30 percent stake in Hulu, in a $52.4 billion deal. If the deal passes regulatory muster, it would give Disney a 60 percent majority ownership stake in Hulu, which some observers predict will cause friction with other part-owners NBC (30 percent) and Time Warner (10 percent).

“As one of today’s top direct-to-consumer entertainment brands, led by technology, innovation and data, Hulu has an enormous opportunity to lead the media and advertising industries into the future,” Freer, who took over as CEO in November last year, said in a statement.

“By adding new expertise and capabilities to our executive ranks and creating greater alignment around our customers, we are positioning Hulu to grow more rapidly, innovate more quickly and connect consumers even more deeply with the content they love.”