Kevin Ken Tsujihara (born October 25, 1964) is an American businessman, and former chairman and CEO of Warner Bros Entertainment. He succeeded Barry Meyer as CEO in March 2013, and as chairman in December 2013, having previously served as president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Upon assuming the role of CEO, Tsujihara became the first

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peopl ...

to run a

major film studio Major film studios are production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American and international markets, th ...

Early life

Kevin Tsujihara was born to Shizuo and Miyeko "Mickey" Tsujihara and grew up in Petaluma, California. He is of

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

heritage. He and his family owned Empire Egg Company, a company that distributed eggs to markets across the

San Francisco Bay area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

. Tsujihara graduated from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

with a bachelor's degree in accounting, and subsequently earned an MBA degree from

Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business schoo ...

. After graduating from Stanford, he and some former classmates launched QuickTax Inc., a tax preparation company.

Career

Tsujihara joined Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. in 1994 as the director of special projects finance, primarily dealing with the company's interest in

Six Flags Theme Parks Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any am ...

, which had been acquired by Warner Bros.' parent company Time Warner (now

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

) in 1990. While employed at Warner Bros., he also focused on business development and online content. In 2005, Tsujihara was given the position of president of the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment unit, which focuses on the home video, online distribution and video games for the company. In January 2013, Tsujihara was named the new

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of Warner Bros. after the announcement that Barry Meyer would retire from the position on March 1, 2013. This made him the first Asian American to be the CEO of a major Hollywood studio and the fifth leader in the 90-year history of Warner Bros. On March 6, 2019, there were reports that WarnerMedia was investigating allegations that Tsujihara had promised auditions and/or acting jobs to British actress Charlotte Kirk in return for sex. On March 8, 2019, Tsujihara released a memo apologizing to his colleagues at WarnerMedia for his behavior. A statement issued by Tsujihara's attorney stated that Tsujihara "did not have a direct role in the actress being cast in any movie". Tsujihara resigned on March 18, 2019, as chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. In September 2020, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' revealed that Tsujihara and former

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primar ...

Vice Chairman Ronald Meyer may have colluded to cover up the real nature of their relationships with Charlotte Kirk.

Personal life

Tsujihara and his wife, Sandy, have two children. Tsujihara serves on the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) Board of Governors.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsujihara, Kevin American people of Japanese descent American film studio executives Living people Marshall School of Business alumni People from Petaluma, California Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni University of Southern California alumni Warner Bros. people 1964 births