Paramount Global
plans to eliminate jobs as the entertainment company takes a step toward cutting costs.
In an internal employee memo obtained by Barron’s, Chief Executive Bob Bakish wrote that returning to earnings growth was a top priority for the company, which has seen annual earnings decline each year since 2020.
“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,” Bakish said in the memo.
Bakish had told employees back in January that the company was planning on reducing headcount so it could “spend less.”
Sources familiar with the matter told Barron’s on Tuesday that about 800 people would be laid off by Paramount. That equates to about 3% of the total workforce.
Paramount
declined to provide comment to Barron’s.
The workforce reductions come just two days after the company streamed Super Bowl LVIII live on CBS, Nickelodeon, and Paramount+. “We are coming off of a blockbuster event with Super Bowl LVIII that showcased the full power of Paramount,” Bakish said.
According to CBS, which aired the game live on Sunday, the Super Bowl was the most-watched program in television history, drawing in 123.4 million average viewers across all the company’s platforms.
Shares of Paramount were falling 3.2% to $12.98. The stock has declined 42% over the last 12 months.
Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]
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