With the Super Bowl in the rear-view mirror, Paramount Global is beginning a round of layoffs.
Per CNBC, around 800 people will be losing their jobs, representing 3% of the company’s global workforce. It follows a slew of media companies that have had various rounds of layoffs as the industry continues to struggle in adapting to new technologies.
In January, Deadline reported the round of layoffs would be happening and impact “virtually every division.”
CEO Bob Bakish acknowledged the layoffs in a memo, per Deadline.
As we shared at Bob Live in January, returning our company to earnings growth is a top priority in 2024.
This will require us to continue to grow revenue, while reducing costs. And unfortunately, part of streamlining costs means that today, we will begin the difficult process of saying goodbye to some of our very valued colleagues across Paramount.
We will be notifying impacted employees who are based in the U.S. by the close of business today.
We’ll share details directly regarding next steps and will do all we can to support you during this time of transition.
There will also be impacts in some of our offices based outside the U.S. Those notifications will occur over time in line with our local legal obligations in each of the countries where we operate.
To those with whom we are parting ways, we are incredibly grateful for your hard work and dedication. Your talents have helped us advance our mission of unleashing the power of content around the world.
We are a better company because of you.
The layoffs come right after Paramount set a record Super Bowl audience with the game reaching over 123 million viewers on their various networks. The memo highlighted Super Bowl LVIII showcasing “the full power of Paramount” in addition to praising primetime programming on CBS and the return of Jon Stewart to hosting The Daily Show once a week. The irony of mass layoffs occurring right after the most-watched event in American television history should not be lost on anybody.
The future of Paramount Global has been up in the air in recent months. A merger between the company and Warner Bros. Discovery was mooted at the end of last year, while media mogul Byron Allen made a multi-billion dollar offer for the company last month.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.