Relativity Media has shuttled its president, Michael Joe, out of the company after only one year and promoted its CFO and COO, Steve Bertram, to Joe's position, the studio announced Thursday.
The shift was the culmination of a power struggle that has been going on inside the company for the past two months, according to individuals with knowledge of the situation.
CEO Ryan Kavanaugh had attempted to manage the dissension among his senior executivecs, enlisting the support of both Joe and Bertram – both relatively recent hires – in the wake of rumors that they were going above him to executives at Elliott Management Corp., Relativity's financial partner.
Instead he chose to move Joe (above, left) over to a safer position at Elliott, promoted Bertram (above, right) and put Brian Edwards, formerly the COO and General Counsel of Mark Burnett Productions, as COO.
Another major piece of the puzzle has been tension with Elliott, the hedge fund. Gordon Singer, the son of the principal Paul Singer, has taken over and is not as close to Kavanaugh as his father was.
Kavanaugh has been making senior level changes because of this tension for weeks. He already ousted marketing president Peter Adee and replaced him with Terry Curtin after intimations of challenges to his leadership. (Adee technically resigned the position, though no substantive reason was given at the time.)
Read also: Peter Adee Leaving Relativity Media; Terry Curtin Likely to Replace Him
Steve Bertram, who had been COO and CFO, will become president and CFO and Brian Edwards, formerly the COO and general counsel at Mark Burnett Productions, will become COO.
Joe joined Relativity in May of 2010. Before that, he was executive VP of Universal Pictures, overseeing global strategy, business development, digital distribution and film financing. He also oversaw Focus Features and Focus Features International.
He was at Universal for 10 years. Bertram joined in January from Paramount.
In March, Relativity closed about $200 million in financing for new movies from Elliott and other sources. Elliott put in $60 million of the sum, individuals familiar with the deal told TheWrap at the time.
Soon after, Relativity hired Erika Hindle as executive VP finance. Hindle had been at Overture Films.
Here's Relativity's release:
Relativity Media Reinforces Executive Ranks
(Beverly Hills, CA) May 12, 2011 – Relativity Media and Elliott Management 
Corporation announced today that Relativity’s President Michael Joe (left) will be joining their financial partner Elliott Management Corporation; Steve Bertram, current COO & CFO, will assume the role as President & CFO of Relativity; Brian Edwards, formerly the COO and General Counsel of Mark Burnett Productions, has joined Relativity as COO.
In Joe’s new capacity at Elliott Management Corporation, he will help to manage Elliott's entertainment assets, specifically, working closely with Relativity to optimize the Elliott-Relativity partnership. Joe will remain in Los Angeles.
Said Joe, “Given my background in the business, this position allows me to leverage all of my resources to help build Relativity's and Elliott's partnership. I look forward to continuing to work with Ryan, Steve, Brian and the entire Relativity team.”
Kavanaugh added, “This move, coupled with Bertram (right) and Edwards’ expertise and experience, creates a dynamic platform. Given Relativity's future plans, and given Steve and Brian's close involvement with the DreamWorks Animation IPO and their guiding of the sale of DreamWorks LLC to Viacom, there is no better management team I could imagine.”
“Michael has a sterling reputation in the entertainment industry," said Jesse Cohn, Portfolio Manager at Elliott. "We had identified the need for this role at Elliott, and we are fortunate to fill it with someone with Michael's credentials, valuable experience at Relativity and Universal, and a close pre-existing working relationship with our team.”
As President & CFO, Bertram will assume supervision of the company’s operations worldwide, while maintaining oversight of banking relationships and corporate finance responsibilities. Bertram will be reporting directly to Kavanaugh.
“Relativity has an exciting future and these changes will strengthen our operation and enable us to continue developing new opportunities,” says Bertram. “Michael Joe has been a great partner to me and I look forward to continuing our work together in his new capacity.”
In addition, Edwards, formerly the COO and General Counsel of Mark Burnett Productions, has been appointed to Relativity’s COO, where he will manage the studio’s business affairs, legal and business administration, while working side by side with Steve Bertram managing day-to-day activities across all divisions.
While at Mark Burnett Productions, Edwards led the negotiations for company’s recently-announced joint venture with Hearst Corporation while also working on such series as Survivor, The Apprentice and NBC’s upcoming The Voice. Previously, Edwards was a partner in Overnight Productions, following an eight year executive role at DreamWorks, where he rose through the ranks as General Counsel and COO. Prior to DreamWorks, he was a partner at law firm, Greenberg Glusker. Edwards earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism and law degree with honors both from the University of Texas.
“Relativity is doing things no other studio in town is doing, and they have proven to be the innovator and to be the leader of needed change within our industry. I jumped at the chance to join this incredibly talented team. The company is led by an impressive management team and I look forward to being a part of the organization, and to helping Relativity grow to new levels.”
Relativity currently has the box office hit Limitless in theaters. Looking ahead, Relativity will releaseJudy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer based on the popular kids book series on June 10th, 2011, followed by David Ellis’ Shark Night 3-D on September 2nd, 2011. On November 11th, 2011, the studio will release the highly-anticipated Immortals, starring Henry Cavill, Stephen Dorff, Isabel Lucas, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, Kellan Lutz, with John Hurt and Mickey Rourke. The studio is about to begin production on a yet-to-be titled Snow White film starring Lily Collins as Snow White, Oscar®-winner Julia Roberts as the queen and Armie Hammer as the prince.
