Former MTV Chief Judy McGrath Joins Amazon Board, Boosting Its Content Expertise

The long-time MTV Networks CEO will have a ringside seat at the transformation of media and retailing. Amazon reports in an SEC filing this morning that Judy McGrath was elected to the board yesterday, and appointed to the Leadership Development and Compensation Committee, effective October 1. As an incentive to stay, she received rights to 2,520 shares convertible at a rate of 840 a year over three years beginning August 2015.
McGrath was at MTV from 1981, beginning as a copywriter, and ran MTV Networks from 2004 to 2011. She replaced her mentor Tom Freston when he was named Viacom’s CEO. Last year she teamed with Sony Music to launch Astronauts Wanted * No Experience Necessary, which develops multimedia content for millennials.
She joins Amazon as the e-retailer steps up its investments in content creation, including video productions from its Amazon Studios. But the company has struggled to turn a profit. Its shares are down nearly 22% so far in 2014 and dropped about 10% last week after reporting a far bigger Q2 loss than investors expected.

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