WBD sues Amazon over Pia Barlow poaching

Warner Bros. Discovery has sued Amazon MGM Studios in California, alleging Amazon orchestrated a lawless “employee shopping spree” by poaching contracted executives, including Pia Barlow, the HBO Max veteran now appointed as head of original series marketing. The complaint asserts Barlow’s term employment at WarnerMedia Services, set to end in October 2027, was knowingly breached when she accepted a higher offer from Amazon more than 16 months early. WBD describes the case as part of a broader pattern of Amazon attempting to recruit executives with ongoing contracts, sometimes coordinating to indemnify them for potential breaches. Amazon’s move to hire Barlow follows a string of similar poaching concerns across the industry, with WBD highlighting Barlow as a high-profile example. The lawsuits stress California law on enforceability of term contracts and mirror prior disputes in Hollywood over poaching of executives from traditional media companies. The case has been reported by multiple outlets including Deadline, Variety, Yahoo Finance, PressBee, and others.