Pioneering reality TV producer Mark Burnett has become the latest MGM executive to depart following Amazon's $8.45 billion purchase of the studio earlier this year.
Burnett is known for creating influential non-scripted TV hits including Survivor, The Apprentice and Shark Tank, among many others.
“After months of collaborative transition efforts, we have thoughtfully reorganized our teams so that they all have the opportunity to prosper under the leadership of Mike Hopkins, Jennifer Salke and Christopher Brearton,” Burnett wrote in a memo to Amazon staff Monday. “In these days of media layoffs I am proud to say that everyone in the TV division has been offered a way to continue to contribute. No one was left behind.”
Also read: Amazon Just Paid a 40% Premium to Buy MGM — What’s It Really Getting?
Burnett, who said he expects to return to a hands-on creative producing role, follows film executive Mike De Luca, who departed MGM earlier.
Burnett joined MGM in 2014, when the studio purchased his One Three Media and LightWorkers Media companies. He became president of MGM Television and Digital Group in December 2015 and moved up to chairman of the studio’s Worldwide Television Group three years later.
He had a significant equity stake in MGM at the time of Amazon’s purchase. ▪️
