Amid speculation about its future, Paramount Global is proceeding with a new wave of staff reductions in February 2024, sources have told Deadline, who also hear the cuts will impact hundreds of employees across the entire company.
For the past several days, there has been chatter that Paramount layoffs of about 800 are imminent. It followed a Wall Street Journal report in December that the company was mulling the potential elimination of more than 1,000 jobs in early 2024 to rein in costs. According to sources, the extent of the cuts will not be quite as big but the layoffs will be in the hundreds, affecting virtually every division. Senior executives have reportedly been given reduction targets to hit.
The layoffs will be implemented in February, Deadline has heard. No one is commenting and things are still in flux but Feb. 13 has been rumored as a potential target date. According to sources, the impacted employees may be asked to leave quickly after being notified, as quickly as within three days. If that is the case, it wouldn’t be unprecedented; laid-off Paramount employees are said to have had a similar short window to depart following a round of cuts during the pandemic. A rep for Paramount declined comment.
Paramount — along with a number of other media companies — went through multiple rounds of cuts over the past 14 months. In November 2022, CBS Studios and Paramount TV Studios were impacted. In February, there were layoffs at Showtime. In May, the company proceeded to eliminate 25% of staff in its domestic cable networks and shutter its long-standing MTV News division after 36 years on air.
While the cuts are being contemplated, National Amusements, Inc., the Shari Redstone-led company that owns the majority of voting shares in Paramount Global, has reportedly been fielding acquisition offers. Apollo Global Management is among the companies that have reportedly contacted the investment bank advising NAI, BDT & MSD Partners; there also have been rumored overtures from Skydance Media and RedBird Capital.
NAI owns a portfolio of movie theaters as well as nearly 80% of voting shares.
Update (1/26) - Paramount CEO Bob Bakish announced layoffs at the media company Thursday, citing a need to “operate as a leaner company and spend less.”
“Our priority is to drive earnings growth. And we’ll get there by growing our revenue while closely managing costs — a balance that will require every team, division and brand to be aligned,” Bakish said in a memo to employees, sent out following a “Bob Live” town hall this morning.
“Where possible, we’ll look to expand our shared services model as we streamline operations. As it has over the past few years, this does mean we will continue to reduce our workforce globally,” he added.
Paramount did not immediately disclose how many jobs the company would cut. It also plans to reduce international content spending, Bakish said in the memo.
The company reports quarterly earnings at the end of February and plans to elaborate on its 2024 strategy then.
The cuts come as a range of companies in the media industry and beyond announce layoffs while they push to trim costs. The Los Angeles Times, Business Insider and Sports Illustrated, among others, have cut jobs in recent days in a tumultuous stretch for media.
The layoffs also come as David Ellison’s Skydance Media explores a deal to take Paramount private.
Bakish acknowledged challenges facing the company including a soft market, economic volatility, and strikes by Hollywood writers and actors that stymied studio production for much of the summer. He appeared to hint at the acquisition rumors swirling around Paramount.
“Amid all this change, it’s no surprise that Paramount remains a topic of speculation. We’re a storied public company in a closely followed industry,” he said. “But I have always believed the best thing we can do is concentrate on what we can control — execution. Leaning into what’s working, while continually adjusting to current realities.”
Below is the full memo.
Team, Earlier today, we dedicated the first Bob Live of 2024 to our strategic focus for the year. Importantly, this vision builds on all this remarkable team accomplished in 2023 — and there’s no question we’ve made incredible progress. Last year, Paramount+ continued to be one of the fastest growing paid streaming services, and Pluto TV was the most widely distributed FAST service in the world.We had the #1 show on television, five #1 box office debuts and the #1 broadcast network for the last season, to name just a few accomplishments. In these ways and more, we’re unleashing the power of our content, which remains our mission no matter what challenges we face. And we have certainly faced a few. As an industry, we’ve confronted a soft ad market, a volatile macroeconomic environment and two historic strikes just in the last year. All while navigating the ongoing evolution of the streaming business, as industry sentiment and metrics for success continue to shift. And we’ve been on our own journey as a company — to realize the full potential of One Paramount as we transition our business from linear to streaming, and continue fine-tuning how we window and monetize our content.Amid all this change, it’s no surprise that Paramount remains a topic of speculation. We’re a storied public company in a closely followed industry. But I have always believed the best thing we can do is concentrate on what we can control — execution. Leaning into what’s working, while continually adjusting to current realities.So what does that mean for us in 2024? Our priority is to drive earnings growth. And we’ll get there by growing our revenue while closely managing costs — a balance that will require every team, division and brand to be aligned. More specifically, we have three key strategies to achieve this:1. Maximizing CONTENT with the biggest impact. When it comes to mass, popular content, we’ve always punched above our weight. And, for our audiences and partners around the world, it’s become very clear that our Hollywood hits are the biggest draw. So, in 2024, we’re focusing our resources on the most powerful, resonant franchises, films and series that perform across platforms globally. As we refine our content strategy, this means we’ll produce fewer local, international originals for our platforms, apart from our leading free-to-air networks in Australia, Argentina, Chile and the UK, where we will continue to have a strong pipeline of local content. And we’ll continue to maximize our global hits across multiple platforms and revenue streams – including streaming, film, TV and licensing – for the biggest return on our investment.2. Driving to STREAMING profitability. We’ve learned a lot since we launched Paramount+ nearly three years ago. As we said last quarter, we expect that 2022 was our year of peak investment, so we are a year ahead of schedule on that important metric. Given our continued push to streaming profitability, this year we will lean even further into large markets like the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, where we have a strong multiplatform presence, our US studio content resonates best, and where there is the greatest revenue potential. In other important markets across Europe, Latin America and Asia, we will continue our market-by-market strategy and tap into the power of our strong local partnerships, ensuring we’re operating with the best model to drive local scale and viewership, while managing costs. Globally, increasing subscriber engagement and retention across our platforms will also be critical priorities on our path to streaming profitability. So will driving revenue across advertising, subscriptions, and licensing – including through our recently announced Paramount+ branded destinations – while we continue to operate as efficiently as we can and reduce costs.3. Further unlocking the power of ONE PARAMOUNT. We’ve made a lot of progress on this front, but there’s even more we can do to leverage the collective power of our company. That means continuing to collaborate across teams, time zones and functions on efforts like cross-promotion, innovative partnerships, data and insights and more, to make the most out of our assets and expertise. As always, we will continue to work to strengthen our culture – prioritizing inclusion, employee and leader development, and guiding our teams through change. Our One Paramount mentality will not only drive better results – it will also enable us to operate as a leaner company and spend less. Where possible, we’ll look to expand our shared services model as we streamline operations.As it has over the past few years, this does mean we will continue to reduce our workforce globally. These decisions are never easy, but are essential on our path to earnings growth. We will continue to be as thoughtful as we can be, communicate when there is information to share and support our teams throughout. If you didn’t get a chance to tune into today’s Bob Live, please do so whenever you can on Vimeo. There’s more information there — and even more to come. Expect to hear updates on our progress against this strategy throughout the year. In many ways, 2024 will be the next great step in our transformation and we must evolve how we work to support that. I can’t emphasize enough how grateful I am for your dedication, and how proud I am of all that this team continues to accomplish. In light of all that we’ve achieved together, I have no doubt we are up to the task.Best, Bob
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Originally published: January 22, 2024.
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