The major news out of Hollywood last night was that Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton is stepping down, to become chairman of the board at Snapchat.
The details of Lynton’s resignation are better covered by places like The New York Times and Deadline, but it should be pointed out that just a few days, Sony was still pretending that everything was fine and dismissed reports of Lynton’s situation as “nothing but baseless rumor and speculation.”
The part of the story that relates to animation, however, is what comes next, specifically, who will become Lynton’s successor. Lynton has agreed to stay on for six months to help find his replacement, and among the names being bandied about is none other than Jeffrey Katzenberg, founder of Dreawmorks Animation. The rumor that Katzenberg is among the pool of candidates comes from both Variety and Deadline. (Both of those publications are owned by the same company, Penske Business Media.)
