Warner Bros. Discovery appoints Robert Gibbs as communications chief

Warner Bros. Discovery appoints Robert Gibbs as communications chief – Warner Bros. Discovery will appoint Robert Gibbs, former President Barack Obama’s White House press secretary, as its new communications chief. Variety has confirmed. The company is expected to make the announcement official on Monday and is said to have already informed WBD chief David Zaslav’s direct reports of the news.

Gibbs will take over the role from former corporate communications chief Nathaniel Brown, who left the company in January. The director will work closely with Zaslav in shaping the company’s corporate communications and in other areas. The search for Brown’s replacement took six months as it was believed Zaslav was looking for a big name to fill the role. Sources said the director believes he is excited about the choice.

Gibbs was a longtime senior adviser to Obama and served as his press secretary from 2009 to 2011. He later served as Executive VP and Global Chief Communications Officer for McDonald’s from 2015 to 2019.

Gibbs’ most recent role was as a partner at communications firm Bully Pulpit International. He hosts the podcast “Hacks on Tap” with David Axelrod and Mike Murphy.

Brown was hired by Discovery Inc. in 2019. and during his tenure oversaw the company’s merger with WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros. Discovery, which closed in April 2022. A source said at his departure Variety the decision to sell Warner Bros. Leaving Discovery was completely mutual between him and Zaslav.

“We are conducting a thoughtful and thorough search, internally and externally, for a new Comms leader and will let you know when we have selected a candidate,” Zaslav wrote in a memo to staffers at the time. “In the meantime, I have contacted our head of executive communications, Laura Watson, and Warner Bros. chief communications officer. Motion Picture Group, Katie Martin Kelley, tapped to oversee corporate communications on an interim basis.”

Probably one of the first issues on Gibbs’ plate: the fate of the NBA on WBD’s TNT. WBD’s exclusive negotiating window to renew media rights expired in April, and the conglomerate was recently believed to be lobbying for a smaller deal that would allow some games to remain on TNT. Also this summer, WBD and Disney will launch a streaming bundle with Max, Disney+ and Hulu.

The Hollywood Reporter was the first to report the news.

(Michael Schneider contributed to this report.)