Paramount manager Bob Bakish attends the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) 2022 at the PSD Bank Dome in Düsseldorf on November 13, 2022.
Thilo Schmülgen | Reuters
Paramount Global is laying off hundreds of employees just a day after the company announced that CBS had achieved record Super Bowl viewership, Chief Executive Bob Bakish said in an internal memo to employees on Tuesday.
Paramount will lay off about 800 employees, or an estimated 3% of its workforce, according to a person familiar with the matter. Paramount Global ended 2022 with approximately 24,500 full- and part-time employees.
Affected workers will be notified on Tuesday, Bakish said in the release.
“These adjustments will allow us to build on our momentum and execute on our strategic vision for the coming year – and I firmly believe we have much to be excited about,” Bakish wrote in the statement.
Shares of Paramount fell about 4% in morning trading on Tuesday.
Deadline first reported the number of cuts in January.
Paramount Global owns a variety of assets including CBS, Paramount Pictures, Pluto TV, Paramount+ and cable channels such as Nickelodeon, BET and Comedy Central. The job cuts come as the media company considers merger and acquisition options. Paramount Global has held initial merger talks with Skydance Media and Warner Bros. Discovery in recent months, CNBC previously reported.
The media company warned its employees of impending cuts in an internal memo dated January 25th. Bakish said at the time that Paramount Global “needs to operate as a leaner company and spend less.”
Its streaming service Paramount+ continues to lose money every quarter. The platform lost $238 million in the third quarter. The company reports its fourth-quarter results on February 28.
Blowout Super Bowl
Super Bowl 58 on CBS was the most-watched television show in history. An estimated 123.4 million people saw it across all platforms.
According to market research firm Guideline, CBS charged a record-breaking average price of $6.5 million for each 30-second Super Bowl commercial.
The network generated tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue because the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers went into overtime.
Source link
2024-02-14 05:29:09
www.cnbc.com
