DVD Pioneer Quits Warner Home Video

Warren N. Lieberfarb, credited in Hollywood as the godfather of the lucrative DVD market, is abruptly leaving Warner Bros., where he was the top home video executive, the studio said Friday night.

Lieberfarb could not be reached, and Warner declined to comment on reasons for the departure.

The executive was known to have been on tense terms for some time with his bosses at both the studio and at parent AOL Time Warner Inc. and had been critical of them.

Lieberfarb worked for Warner Home Video for 20 of his 27 years at the studio, where he embarked on a decade-long quest to develop DVD technology in an industry initially skeptical about its feasibility.

He was instrumental in getting studios to adopt one standard format, avoiding a repeat of the messy early days of videocassettes, when two formats -- VHS and Beta -- competed. His actions were important for Warner, which holds patents on some key DVD technology.

“He’s clearly made an impact on the business. He’s the guy who fought uphill to get the DVD market established, and it wouldn’t be there without him,” said Bill Mechanic, former movie chief at 20th Century Fox and, before that, head of home video at Walt Disney Co.

Lieberfarb was openly disillusioned with the ill-fated merger of America Online and Time Warner, which he believed was mismanaged. He was especially unhappy at having been rewarded for his moneymaking DVD efforts with options on AOL Time Warner’s now-depressed stock.

Known as an abrasive, opinionated executive, Lieberfarb complained about being passed over for bigger jobs at the company.

Still, he took pride in what he called “Lieberfarbian controversies,” often irritating other executives in the industry.

He aggressively pushed the sale of DVDs by cutting prices -- something that didn’t endear him to competitors or to Blockbuster Inc., which has seen its video rental business erode as consumers opt to buy DVDs.

This week, the giant video chain said its earnings would fall short of expectations, causing its stock price to plunge.

Lieberfarb has long argued that Hollywood is too beholden to Blockbuster.

Pushed by Warner and its home entertainment chief, the studios have increasingly emphasized DVD sales through mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Inc.

No successor was named, but the company said one would come from within its ranks.

In a statement, Warner Bros. Chief Executive Barry Meyer called Lieberfarb “a true visionary and a world-class executive.”

AOL Time Warner Chief Executive Richard D. Parsons said Lieberfarb “combines being a visionary and strategist with being a hands-on, first-class operating executive.”