Watch Time Warner Chief Jeff Bewkes Bid Farewell To Staff

Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes has bid farewell to staff in a video, a day after AT&T completed its $65 billion deal to acquire the media giant that includes Warner Bros, HBO and Turner Broadcasting.

Bewkes, who started his career at Time Warner selling subscriptions to HBO, is exiting his post as chairman and CEO with the merger, the second biggest in media history behind only Time Warner’s ill-fated tie-up with AOL. He will remain with the company as a senior advisor during a transition period, with AT&T’s John Stankey taking over the properties under the newly named WarnerMedia as CEO.

“I’m very proud about what we have accomplished together, and I hope you’re as excited as I am about the opportunities ahead,” Bewkes says in the eight-minute video, which includes a pretty thorough history-as-legacy of Warner Bros, Time Warner, Turner through good and bad. “Because as storytellers, as journalists, as business leaders and catalysts for change, our work is never really done. We can only run our leg of the relay, then pass the baton.”

“For me,” he adds, “that time has come. Please know that from my first day at HBO to my final week as CEO, it’s been my great honor to work alongside each of you. I’ve never known a more creative or dedicated team, or shared a greater sense of common purpose. So for one last time I want to sincerely say thank you for everything you’ve done, and thank you for being on this journey.”

Check out the video above.