Shake-Up at Turner Broadcasting, as Phil Kent Is Out

The chairman of Turner Broadcasting, Philip I. Kent, will leave his position in January, according to a memo to the staff on Wednesday morning from Jeffrey L. Bewkes, the chief executive of Time Warner.

John Martin, who has been the chief financial and administration officer of Time Warner, will succeed Mr. Kent. Mr. Bewkes cast the move as a mutual decision with Mr. Kent, whose contract was due to expire in 2014.

Turner Broadcasting, which includes the entertainment channels TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies, as well as CNN, has been a stellar financial performer for Time Warner during Mr. Kent’s 11 years leading the division.

But Mr. Bewkes has been making moves to put a new generation of leaders at the top of Time Warner's divisions. In March, he surprised many in the entertainment business by appointing Kevin Tsujihara to be the new chairman of Warner Brothers, and last month, Warner announced that the head of the film division, Jeff Robinov, would be leaving that position, to be replaced by a quartet of former lieutenants now reporting to Mr. Tsujihara.

In another major move, Jeff Zucker, the former chief executive of NBCUniversal, was named president of CNN Worldwide last November, a move that was announced by Mr. Kent, but came after close involvement from Mr. Bewkes.

In his memo, Mr. Bewkes made a point of tying the decision to replace Mr. Kent to a “transition to the next generation of leadership at Turner.”

The news of Mr. Kent’s departure was first reported on the Web site of l Variety.

Mr. Kent was widely respected at Turner, but from his base in Atlanta he had somewhat less direct contact with the Time Warner leadership than executives in New York or Los Angeles. Inside the company there has already been speculation that Mr. Martin will lead Turner from New York, not Atlanta.

In the memo to the staff, Mr. Bewkes praised Mr. Kent for guiding Turner Broadcasting “through a period of rapid change with an unwavering focus on both driving the business forward and making sure that Turner remains a place that nurtures and rewards talent.”

He said the decision to make the change came after a series of discussion about extending Mr. Kent’s contract.

He also praised Mr. Martin as “a broad and strategic business thinker, who is both a great listener and communicator.”