Amazon shakes up streaming leadership team

Amazon announced this week that Jennifer Salke is stepping down as the head of Amazon MGM Studios — a move that could indicate high-level dissatisfaction with the company’s streaming strategy over the past few years.

To be clear, Salke’s boss Mike Hopkins (the head of Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video) praised her work in an email to employees and described her departure as one that allows the company to “flatten our leadership structure a bit” — a recurring theme in recent tech company layoffs.

In other words, Amazon does not intend to fill Salke’s role. Instead, the heads of its film and TV studios report directly to Hopkins.

But the reporting around Salke’s departure highlights Amazon’s streaming disappointments and challenges under her leadership. Previously an exec at NBC, Salke joined Amazon Studios in 2018, as the company was looking to expand beyond critically praised movies and shows into more mainstream hits.

The streamer has had its share of successes since then, including “Reacher,” “Jack Ryan,” “Fallout,” and “The Boys.” It also made a big bet on “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” a show whose premiere drew a record audience for Amazon, but which has not proven to be the world-conquering phenomenon that you’d hope for with a reported budget of more than $1 billion.

And then there’s “Citadel,” an espionage show designed as the epicenter of a fictional universe of global spinoffs like “Citadel: Diana” and “Citadel: Honey Bunny.” Extensive reshoots reportedly turned “Citadel” into the second most expensive show ever made (behind only “The Rings of Power”), but its reception has been even more underwhelming. The Hollywood Reporter says the second season has been delayed from fall 2025 to spring 2026, with further spinoffs put on hold.

Amazon has also struggled to get another James Bond film into production, following its acquisition of MGM in 2022. Producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli (the offspring of longtime Bond producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli) maintained creative control of the franchise, and a Wall Street Journal report in December suggested that Barbara Broccoli was particularly unhappy with Amazon — she was apparently annoyed in an early meeting when Salke referred to Bond as “content,” and she was even reported to describe the tech giant’s team as “idiots.”

Another source said that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was, in turn, so angered by the WSJ story about Broccoli that he declared, “I don’t care what it takes, get rid of her,” with the company subsequently paying the Wilson and Broccoli to give up control.

Salke’s name was noticeably missing from Amazon’s triumphant announcement of the Bond deal. She will, however, be starting a new film and TV production company with a first-look deal at Amazon.