Hollywood bigwig Peter Chernin joins Twitter's board
The former News Corp. executive, who also helped launch Hulu, has become the eighth member of Twitter's board of directors.
Welcome, @peterchernin, to Twitter's board.
— Twitter (@twitter) November 16, 2012
Twitter said this afternoon that former News Corp. executive Peter Chernin has become the newest member of its board of directors.
Well known in Hollywood, Chernin helped launch Hulu and is on Pandora's board. The move was expected, with All Things D reporting earlier in the day that Twitter was "poised" to name Chernin.
Rumors about who would be the newest Twitter director have been flying for months, with Chernin's name prominently mentioned.
Twitter's current board members are CEO Dick Costolo, co-founder Evan Williams, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, co-founder and chairman Jack Dorsey, vice president of product Jason Goldman, Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, and Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital. Chernin is taking the slot on the board left vacant after the departure of Flipboard CEO Mike McCue.
In a tweet, Chernin said, that, "I've been a long-time user of Twitter for news and information. Happy to be joining board of this very exciting company."
But given the fact that Chernin's tweet acknowledging he's joining the board was his first ever, it's clear Twitter didn't bring him aboard for his expertise on the platform. Rather, it's evident the company is eager to have someone with Chernin's reach in Hollywood and throughout the entertainment industry.