Diane Nelson, the former president of DC Entertainment who joined Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi as head of content operations less than a year ago, is leaving the mobile subscription video startup.
Nelson is the latest high-profile Quibi exec to leave the company recently — with her departure coming less than six months before the company is scheduled to launch its ambitious SVOD service in April 2020.
Tim Connolly, the former Hulu exec who joined Quibi last year as head of partnerships and advertising, left the company this summer. Janice Min, previously the top editor at the Hollywood Reporter, left Quibi in September after leading the Daily Essentials curated daily news and information programming group.
“Diane Nelson has been a valued member of the team, helping us build a strong organization full of exceptional people,” Katzenberg said in a statement about her departure. “We wish her well and support her as she focuses on other priorities, and thank her for her many contributions to Quibi.”
Nelson’s exit was first reported by NBC News’ Dylan Byers.
Nelson had joined Quibi in late 2018 after leaving DC Entertainment earlier last year after more than two decades. Nelson was named head of DC in 2009, where she helped oversee the development of its TV projects, feature films, and video games with mixed results. Under her leadership, DC had been successful on the television side with popular shows like “Arrow” and “The Flash”; the studio’s film slate had hits including “Wonder Woman” but a number of misses including “Justice League.”
At DC, Nelson had taken a leave of absence for family-related issues starting in March 2018. In a memo that Nelson sent to Quibi staff, she said personal matters had prompted her to leave the company.
“When I left Warner Bros. last year after over two strong decades of work there, I made a commitment to prioritize several key aspects of my life — most importantly my family and friends,” Nelson wrote in the memo. “Unfortunately, that commitment was tested a bit sooner and more urgently than I might have liked.” Nelson said she will spend the next few months “to make sure the people I love are well and settled and then will turn my attention to my next chapter of life.”
Quibi, led by Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman, has greenlit a slew of original shows and set a launch date of April 6, 2020. The company has announced deals for programming designed for mobile viewing with the Russo Brothers, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Antoine Fuqua, Sam Raimi, Jason Blum, Steven Soderbergh, Catherine Hardwick, Anna Kendrick, Doug Liman, Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Curry.