Hulu President to Exit “Immediately” in Latest Disney Reshuffle

in Movies & TV

Kelly Campbell

Credit: Disney

Another day, and another shake-up in the Disney streaming world.

Kelly Campbell, the president of the Disney-operated streaming service Hulu, is to exit the company, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Graphical user interface
Credit: Hulu

Campbell’s departure was confirmed in an internal memo from Rebecca Campbell, Disney’s chairman of international operations and direct-to-consumer, who gave no reason for Kelly’s sudden exit.

Dear Team –

I wanted to let you all know that Kelly Campbell has left the Company, effective immediately. I know you’ll join me in thanking her for her contributions to Hulu over the past four years and wishing her well.

For an interim period, Scott Donaton, Reagan Feeney, Karin Gilford, Brian Henderson and Annie Luo will report into me. Additionally, the leaders of the Disney Streaming cross-business teams — Joe Inzerillo, Jerrell Jimerson, Jaya Kolhatkar and Karen Van Kirk — will dual-report to Michael Paull and, temporarily, to me.

Hulu remains an important part of our direct-to consumer strategy, and I look forward to working closely with all of you until her replacement is named.

My best,

Rebecca

In a LinkedIn post regarding her exit, Kelly did not reveal any indications as to where her next steps will be, writing that four years ago this had been her “dream job”, but to “stay tuned” for what comes next in her career.

Kelly Campbell joined Hulu back in 2017 as the chief marketing officer, after a 12-year stint at Google. She was promoted to president in February 2020, and has seen success in her short period at Hulu.

hulu
Credit: Screenshot via Hulu

According to Disney, Hulu turned a profit for the first time in the quarter ending July 3, 2021. Hulu subscribers grew 22% year over year, to 42.8 million, including 3.7 million subscribers on live TV plans. As of October, Disney will be increasing the cost of Hulu plans, pushing a bundle subscription with Disney+ and ESPN+. Disney gained operational control of Hulu in 2019 after striking a deal with Comcast.

We wish Kelly all the best in her future endeavors, whatever they will be.

What have been your thoughts on Disney’s latest shake-ups? Let us know in the comments!

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