After less than two years as Hulu’s president, Kelly Campbell has left the Disney-controlled streaming service.
Campbell’s sudden departure was announced to staff by Rebecca Campbell, Disney’s chairman of international operations and direct-to-consumer, who said that Kelly was no longer with Hulu “effective immediately” but did not provide a specific reason.
Kelly Campbell’s direct reports at Hulu will report to Rebecca Campbell (the two are not related) until a replacement is named for the position.
In a LinkedIn post about leaving Hulu, Kelly Campbell did not provide clues about where she is headed next. “Four years ago I accepted my dream job when I joined Hulu. And it didn’t disappoint. I worked with the best of the best, in a values-driven culture full of the most talented people around,” she wrote. “While I’ve made the decision to move on from Hulu, I’ll forever bleed green.” Campbell added, “As for what’s next, stay tuned…”
Kelly Campbell joined Hulu in 2017 as chief marketing officer, and in February 2020 she was promoted to president, coming after Randy Freer’s exit as CEO of Hulu. Before Hulu, she spent 12 years at Google, working in various leadership and marketing roles in Google Ads and Google Cloud. Campbell first started out in the finance sector, as an investment banking analyst for JPMorgan Chase, and she holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
For the quarter ended July 3, according to Disney, Hulu turned a profit for the first time. Hulu subscribers grew 22% year over year, to 42.8 million, including 3.7 million subscribers on live TV plans (down about 100,000 vs. the previous quarter).
Disney assumed operational control of Hulu in 2019 after acquiring entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox (which had been part-owner of the streamer) and inking a deal with Comcast.
Read the memo that Rebecca Campbell sent to Disney staffers Monday:
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