Paramount Global is planning to lay off 15 percent of its U.S. workforce by the end of the year as part of its previously announced $500 million in cost savings ahead of the company merging with Skydance.
Paramount’s Office of the CEO — George Cheeks, Brian Robbins, and Chris McCarthy — revealed the layoffs on Thursday as part of the company’s grim Q2 earnings, which saw Paramount reassess the value of its cable networks by $5.9 billion. Paramount+ even lost subscribers in the quarter, though the streaming division on the whole, including Pluto TV, did manage to turn a profit for the first time.
The layoffs will come to what the CEOs deem as redundant functions within marketing, as well as administrative divisions of the company including finance, legal, technology, and other support functions, McCarthy said.
Paramount’s last round of layoffs took place in February when CEO Bob Bakish was still in charge, with about 800 staffers being let go. As of the end of December 2023, Paramount Global had 21,900 employees, which itself was 11 percent down from a prior round of layoffs the year prior.
Paramount is in the midst of the 45-day “go-shop” period during which other bidders can emerge with their own offer to buy Paramount after Skydance on July 7 officially laid out its plan to buy holding company National Amusements and then merge their company with Paramount. So far, no formal bids have emerged (not even this one), though some have been circling. Paramount expect the Skydance deal to close early next year.
More to come…