A Brief History of Warner Bros. Leadership Since 1970

Home Film Features Apr 21, 2026 9:52am PT A Brief History of Warner Bros. Leadership Since 1970 By Cynthia Littleton Plus Icon Cynthia Littleton Business Editor @Variety_Cynthia Latest $500 Million Exit: David Zaslav Is Leaving Warner Bros. a Rich Man — but He’d Love to Stay Around Even Longer 2 hours ago LISTEN: ‘Mother Mary’ Shows Box Office Promise, ‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Not So Much; CinemaCon Buzzes About Windows and Warner Bros. 22 hours ago LISTEN: Betches Media CEO Aleen Dreksler on Building a Digital Hub for Women With Comedy and Community 3 days ago See All Getty Images / PMC Warner Bros. is poised to change hands for the third time in six years, but it has never gone to a company like Paramount, which already owns a rival major studio. In looking Warner’s modern history, it’s worth revisiting the leaders behind the M&A deals, strategies and situations that have shaped the house built in 1923 by Jack, Harry, Sam and Abe Warner, four enterprising brothers from the Youngstown, Ohio, area. Steven J. Ross Image Credit: WWD Warner Communications, chairman-CEO; Time Warner, chairman, 1969-92 The architect of the modern media conglomerate, Ross was a successful businessman who owned funeral parlors and parking lots when his Kinney National Co. acquired a very run-down Warner Bros.-Seven Arts movie studio for $400 million in 1969. He renamed the parent company Warner Communications and set out to expand its scope in entertainment. Ross rebuilt the movie studio, brought in DC Comics, revved up Warner Music and acquired Atari and Lorimar-Telepictures. His masterstroke came in 1989 with the agreement that created the world’s largest media company through the merger of Warner Communications and Time Inc., which owned HBO. The enlarged company was just starting to gain real traction when Ross, just 65, died in December 1992 from prostate cancer.