Yep, sounds like the Bond blow-up contributed to Jen Salke's Amazon exit

In case you somehow missed the whole Bond drama, it shook (but not stirred) out something like this: When Amazon bought venerable Hollywood studio MGM back in 2022, that purchase included the film rights to the studio’s most lucrative franchise, the Bond pictures. But it also came with a huge asterisk, in the form of Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who (after inheriting the role from their father, legendary Hollywood producer Cubby Broccoli) have been producing Bond movies since the Pierce Brosnan era, and retained final say for any Bond productions even after Amazon bought MGM. Final say, in this case, inevitably being “No,” because Broccoli and Wilson were not excited about Amazon’s plans to exploit the spy franchise, especially in TV, with Broccoli reportedly (per The Wall Street Journal) calling Amazon execs “fucking idiots” in conversations with friends. This February, supposedly at Jeff Bezos’ angry insistence, Amazon reached for its ultimate weapon and paid the pair what was reportedly something like $1 billion in “Fuck off” money to finally get hold of the franchise in earnest.

Given that Salke’s job, as studio head, was to manage exactly these kinds of relationships, the very expensive breakdown with Broccoli and Wilson can’t help but reflect on her tenure in the job: THR reports sources saying “It was one mistake in a series of mistakes. And this was a nearly billion-dollar mistake… Part of the job is to manage talent. Hollywood is a freak show and your job is to manage the animals. And she just wasn’t doing it.” (Say what you like about unsourced quotes, but it really lets Hollywood insiders let their inner poets out, huh?) Bond wasn’t the only issue for Salke—she was also the chief force pushing for the creation of Citadel, a show entirely predicated on the (blatantly untrue) idea that viewers would click anything with Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo’s names on it—but it’s hard not to see the need to reach for Uncle Jeff’s Big Checkbook as a final straw, given the timing of how this all went down.