Apple Corps Ltd., the corporate overseeing the Beatles‘ enterprise and inventive pursuits, has discovered its new CEO. Tom Greene was introduced as the corporate’s new chief Tuesday morning, set to fill a task that had been vacant since former longtime CEO Jeff Jones stepped down final yr after 17 years.

The appointment received’t be efficient instantly; Tuesday’s announcement mentioned Greene will formally step into the function in September.

Greene involves Apple Corps from BLAST, an e-sports firm the place he served as COO. Previous to his 4 years with BLAST, he was related to the Harry Potter franchise, having been first in control of Pottermore Publishing, then of Wizarding World Digital, a three way partnership between Warner Bros and Pottermore.

In a bunch assertion, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison and Sean Ono Lennon joined collectively to say: “We’re thrilled to welcome Tom Greene as CEO. We’ve got plenty of thrilling plans and Tom’s expertise and imaginative and prescient make him the proper particular person to affix us in making all of it occur.”

Greene mentioned, “It’s a big honor to guide Apple Corps into this new part of its historical past. Like so many individuals world wide, I grew up in a family obsessive about the Beatles and their music. At a time when the world would possibly want extra of the Beatles’ spirit, there are such a lot of new and modern methods to carry their distinctive magic to all generations of followers. I can not wait to get began.”

Apple Corps has saved up a strong slate not simply with archival music releases however shifting extra into different media, foremost among the many tasks going ahead being director Sam Mendes’ 4 biopics of the person Beatles, set for launch in April 2028 via Sony Leisure.

In making the announcement, Apple Corps pointed to BLAST — described as “a aggressive leisure firm working with the most important online game builders and publishers on the planet on the manufacturing, commercialization and viewers progress of their esports programmes” — having “grown twentyfold” throughout Greene’s time on the firm. Greene started as BLAST’s chief progress officer in August 2021 earlier than being elevated to COO two years later.

Apple Corps additionally mentioned that by the point Greene left Wizarding World Digital in July 2021, “the Harry Potter Fan Membership had grown to over 50 million members, supported by immersive digital experiences, day by day content material publishing and an modern ecommerce providing.” The exec stays on the board of Pottermore, Apple Corps mentioned. Greene was group industrial director for Pottermore from 2015 via 2018, then moved to Wizarding World Digital, the place he acted as COO, then basic supervisor.

Previous to his expertise with the Harry Potter franchise, Greene was the inventor of Market Meltdown, a board sport a few monetary disaster that made a splash within the U.Ok. in 2012, per his LinkedIn web page. Greene’s academic background contains levels from the College of Oxford in 2010 and 2011.

The appointment of Greene actually represents the Beatles’ passing of the torch to a brand new technology that got here of age within the digital period; whereas Jones grew up through the Nineteen Sixties lifetime of the Beatles, who formally broke up in 1970, its new CEO was born a long time after the group’s unique heyday.

Jeff Jones introduced he was leaving the corporate final fall after a 17-year run. Just lately on his LinkedIn web page, he wrote, “I not too long ago had dinner with a couple of music enterprise pals who I hadn’t seen in fairly awhile. One in all them inquired, ‘How is all the things going at Apple, and what’s the subsequent Beatles challenge?’
In that second, I humbly realized that not everyone seems to be conscious that I had stepped down from my function as CEO of Apple Corps after virtually 18 years. Working for the Beatles was an absolute dream come true.
I need to categorical my gratitude to everybody who has heard the information and reached out to supply their finest needs…. Over the previous few months, I’ve taken a while off to mirror on the longer term and discover the probabilities for myself and my household after over 4 a long time within the leisure trade. I’m wanting ahead the subsequent journey of my skilled and private journey.”