Atlantic Records CEO Steps Down

Warner Music Group Corp. said Wednesday that Jason Flom resigned from its Atlantic Records Group after 16 months as chairman and chief executive. It didn’t provide a reason.

Warner replaced Flom with Craig Kallman, Atlantic Records’ co-chairman and chief operating officer, the company said. Lava Records, a joint venture between Flom and Atlantic, will become a wholly owned unit of Atlantic, the New York-based company said.

Warner Music is reshuffling management at Atlantic after it combined the financial and sales departments at Atlantic and its Elektra label last year. The move left Atlantic with two top senior managers, Flom and Kallman, both reporting directly to Lyor Cohen, who runs Warner Music’s record unit. Flom, 44, is leaving after 26 years at the label.

“It’s part of the combination of Elektra and Atlantic,� said Laura Martin, an analyst with Soleil Securities Corp. in Pasadena. “They had too many senior executives� after the merger of the labels.

Kallman, 40, started his music career as a disc jockey in New York clubs. Big Beat, the independent label he created in 1987, was acquired by Atlantic in 1991. He’s responsible for bringing to the label artists such as Craig David, Warner Music said last year.

Shares in Warner Music fell 26 cents to $16.65.