On the Turner Animation Changeover

As the L.A. Times reported Friday:

Stu Snyder, president and chief operating officer of Time Warner's Turner Animation unit, is exiting.

Snyder, who has overseen Turner's animation efforts, including the Cartoon Network, for six years, told his staff that he is resigning at the end of the month.

"It is with mixed emotions that I share with you the news that I will be leaving the company at the end of the month," Snyder said in an email. "I have had the privilege of working and partnering with some of the most creative, talented and fun people in the business, who I will miss working with every day." ...

The Brew has weighed in on Mr. Snyder's exit, also Toon Zone. Talking to CN staffers, they told me they were surprised that the Snyder e-mails were out there so fast, and confirmed they were real.

Snyder's tenure was choppy, but I don't link his leaving to the live-action misfires he pushed a few years ago. When I attributed his exit to the live-action slate, a CN administrator told me: "That was years ago. I don't think that had much to do with it." On the other hand, when I said (smei-facetiously) that Snyder was "pushed overboard", there were no denials.

The upshot is: corporate employees, and corporate executives in particular, serve at the pleasure of the King. And when those at the top of pyramid move on, their replacements almost always want their own people in the gilded chairs below them. I think this was the dynamic with Mr. Snyder. As the L.A. Times says, there was a new President and CEO at Turner, and the incoming prex was not on of Stu Snyder's biggest fans.

Based on what we know, that's why Snyder is mounting up and riding out.