Hewlett Packard Enterprise chief executive Meg Whitman has revealed her appointment as the chief executive of a startup mobile film and television production studio called NewTV, a position she will take up from 1 March.
Announcing her plans in a LinkedIn post, Whitman said: “NewTV, which is the working name, will bring the highest quality Hollywood production values and storytelling to our mobile lifestyles – delivered in bite-sized formats of 10 minutes or less.
“It will have a custom-designed, purpose-built technology platform for on-the-go viewing of the highest caliber, curated content. This is one of the most disruptive and timely ideas I’ve come across in my career.”
NewTV is the brainchild of film studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, former CEO of Dreamworks Interactive, who served as chairman of Walt Disney Studios between 1984 and 1994. According to Reuters, the mobile media entertainment company is trying to raise US$ $2 billion in first-round funding.
“As CEO and employee #1, I have the opportunity to create a company that I believe will transform an industry,” Whitman wrote of her appointment to NewTV.
“Building a global technology and media company is as big and exciting as it gets. I wholeheartedly share Jeffrey’s belief that NewTV is the next big and transformative touchpoint in entertainment.”
In November last year, Whitman, who took HPE from a debt-ridden company with long-in-the-tooth products into two smaller companies revealed she would step down as CEO as of 1 February 2018. HPE president Antonio Neri, the driving force behind the company's charged-up software-defined enterprise portfolio, will take over the top job.
Whitman accomplished a miraculous turnaround of the company which had US$12.5 billion in debt and a demoralised partner network when she took over as chief executive in September 2011.
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