Paramount cuts 800 jobs days after record Super Bowl
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The owner of CBS, Nickelodeon and other channels is fighting competition from streaming services like Netflix.
PHOTO: AFP
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Los Angeles - Paramount Global is letting go of hundreds of employees days after the company’s coverage of the American National League Championship game, the Super Bowl,
The company is eliminating roughly 800 jobs, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The owner of CBS, Nickelodeon and other channels is trying to boost profits at a time when viewers are cancelling cable and satellite TV packages in favour of streaming services like Netflix.
Paramount+, the company’s own online TV service, is not profitable. Attendance at movie theatres has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, putting pressure on the company’s namesake film studio as well.
Paramount Global’s shares closed down 3.1 per cent in New York on Feb 13.
They have declined 13 per cent in 2024.
In an internal memo to employees on Feb 13, chief executive Bob Bakish said the company will inform impacted employees in the United States by the end of the day, while notifications to staff members outside the US will “occur over time”.
The cuts at Paramount were widely expected and were flagged by Mr Bakish in a note to staff in January.
Mr Bakish has been restructuring the company, merging its Showtime cable network with its streaming operation and cutting back on efforts to launch independent streaming services overseas.
The company has also been selling assets such as its Simon & Schuster book publishing arm to reduce debt.
Paramount chair Shari Redstone is currently weighing options that could include a sale of her family’s controlling stake in the business to independent film and TV producer David Ellison.
Media mogul Byron Allen has also made an offer for the entire company and has begun a dialogue with the board. BLOOMBERG
