After a several month CEO search, Jaunt has announced that they’ve poached Hearst exec George Kliavkoff to take over at the VR studio.
Kliavkoff served as co-president of Hearst’s Entertainment & Syndication division. During his time at Hearst, Kliavkoff handled interests in cable networks like ESPN, Lifetime, A&E and History while also handling television content and the company’s burgeoning interests in print media.
Jaunt co-founder and CTO Arthur van Hoff, who served as interim-CEO over the past few months, will be shifting back to his role as CTO.
Jaunt was left in a bit of an odd position when its former CEO Jens Christensen left the company in early June unexpectedly without much explanation. (I found out when I received a bounce-back email from the CEO) The company announced the news with a passing press release, not offering much in the way of details, just declaring “JAUNT LAUNCHES SEARCH FOR NEW CEO.”
The company has raised $100 million from top partners like The Walt Disney Company, GV, Redpoint Ventures and Evolution Media Partners.