EXCLUSIVE: Mike Hopkins, Head of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, is changing the responsibilities of two of his senior executives, VP and global head of sports and advertising Jay Marine and VP Prime Video U.S. Albert Cheng. Hopkins unveiled the restructuring in a company memo, a copy of which was obtained by Deadline.
Marine and Cheng’s roles have been consolidated into one with Marine elevated, taking over Cheng’s responsibilities overseeing the U.S. Prime Video business. That includes PV subscriptions as the platform has been focused on becoming the ultimate bundle by adding carriage of other networks and streamers. Marine will also continue to lead the company’s global sports and ads operations.
“Albert will take on a new role “leading our investments in creating new tools for our creative partners that harness the power of AI,” Hopkins said in the memo. “Alongside our Studios tech team, Albert will lead content creation and focus on empowering the very best filmmakers and showrunners to do their most innovative work in AI and – in doing so – create even more high-quality content for customers.”
Watch on Deadline
Hopkins teased upcoming progress reports on Cheng’s team and on the initiative which he called “an opportunity for us to push boundaries in an area that takes advantage of the scale and technological leadership of Amazon… and do it in a way that has the potential to deliver an entirely new kind of storytelling to customers.”
Marine and Cheng will be transitioning to the new roles over the next few weeks, Hopkins said.
In his memo, Hopkins discussed the impetus for the executive changes, noting that they address priorities in two key areas Amazon President and CEO Andy Jassy and he had talked about focusing on.
“One of those areas is the structure of our teams, specifically the need for us to create bigger roles, flatter orgs and single threaded leaders that can push decision-making down and empower us all to move faster,” Hopkins said. “The second is the lightning-fast speed at which AI is augmenting and accelerating the way we work and ushering in new opportunities to create and distribute entertainment and sports that our customers love.”
AI is a major focus for tech and media companies, with the latter increasingly hiring senior executives to lead their efforts in the fast growing field. The streamers already have been employing AI in various areas, including dubbing.
Former Disney ABC Television Group digital executive Cheng has been at Amazon MGM Studios/Prime Video for 10 years, holding various roles, including COO.
Fellow Amazon veteran Marine has overseen sports for the company since 2022. He has ramped up the platform’s sports rights, most recently adding NBA to its existing portfolio that includes the NFL and WNBA.
Here is Hopkins’ memo:
Team,
Over the coming weeks, we will be making changes to the purviews of two members of our leadership team, and I wanted to share some details in advance with all of you. Recently, you’ve heard both Andy and me talk about two key areas of focus that are both driving shifts in the way we work, while opening new opportunities for us to better serve customers.
One of those areas is the structure of our teams, specifically the need for us to create bigger roles, flatter orgs and single threaded leaders that can push decision-making down and empower us all to move faster.
The second is the lightning-fast speed at which AI is augmenting and accelerating the way we work and ushering in new opportunities to create and distribute entertainment and sports that our customers love.
With that in mind, Jay Marine and Albert Cheng will take on new leadership roles, each of which address these priorities; put us in an even stronger position to deliver faster for customers; and enable us to be even more strategic about the significant bets we will make in the AI space.Jay – our VP and global head of sports and advertising – will add to those duties oversight of our U.S. Prime Video business, inclusive of PV Subscriptions and the balance of Albert’s org. Placing PV’s full US business under a single-threaded leader, including sports and ads (which Jay will continue to lead on a global basis), will enable those teams to work faster and even more collaboratively going forward.
As part of this transition, Jay will be spending time with the PV US leadership team to map out the most thoughtful organizational structure going forward, and he will work closely with Albert to make this leadership transition as seamless as possible.Albert will take on a new role leading our investments in creating new tools for our creative partners that harness the power of AI. Alongside our Studios tech team, Albert will lead content creation and focus on empowering the very best filmmakers and showrunners to do their most innovative work in AI and – in doing so – create even more high-quality content for customers.
We will share more on this initiative and its team structure as we progress, but this is clearly an opportunity for us to push boundaries in an area that takes advantage of the scale and technological leadership of Amazon… and do it in a way that has the potential to deliver an entirely new kind of storytelling to customers.
Albert and Jay will be transitioning to these new roles over the next few weeks, and we’ll be sharing more on both fronts as they begin conversations with their new teams. Thank you for all your continued work and please join me in congratulating Albert and Jay on their new roles.
Mike