Paramount begins 2,000-person layoff amid Skydance merger fallout

Paramount is the latest company to join the bloodbath of layoffs this week. 

The entertainment giant began cutting around 1,000 workers on Wednesday, with twice that many pink slips expected in the days to come. In a memo to staff, new Paramount CEO David Ellison characterized the reductions, which will ultimately shrink the company by 10%, as a necessary step for the company’s long-term growth.

“In some areas, we are addressing redundancies that have emerged across the organization,” Ellison wrote in a memo obtained by The Guardian and other outlets. “In others, we are phasing out roles that are no longer aligned with our evolving priorities and the new structure designed to strengthen our focus on growth.” 

Paramount-owned CBS News will reportedly see around 100 employees cut. Those layoffs were reportedly planned prior to the network’s decision to name Bari Weiss as its editor-in-chief, inviting the controversial media figure and anti-”woke” provocateur to reshape the network in her image.

The layoffs, while significant, weren’t totally unexpected. After Skydance’s $8.4 billion merger with Paramount was finalized over the summer, the company’s new leadership signaled it planned to cut around $2 billion in costs by trimming its workforce. Last year, Paramount cut 15% of its U.S. workforce in the lead-up to the Skydance deal.

Paramount joins Amazon, UPS, Target and General Motors, which have all announced major layoffs this week. On Tuesday, Amazon said that it would cut around 14,000 corporate jobs, citing investments in AI and quickly fulfilling CEO Andy Jassy’s own prophecy that the technology would reduce its need for human workers in the future.

Skydance’s empire grows

Layoffs aren’t the only big move Paramount is making under Skydance’s banner. The company is already working on an offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., which owns CNN, DC Studios, and HBO, among other major media properties. Skydance, which merged with Paramount in August, is led by David Ellison, the son of Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison.

By closing the Paramount deal, Skydance brought Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, CBS, CBS News, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Showtime and other entertainment brands under its wing. If the company succeeds in a bid to buy Warner Bros., it would also pick up Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Comics, Turner Classic Movies, New Line Cinema, the Discovery Channel, the Travel Channel, TBS, TNT, and a handful of theme parks. 

Paramount is doing some belt tightening around its workforce, but the company’s new leadership is splashing out big in other areas. Under Ellison, Paramount swiftly announced a $7.7 billion deal to become the UFC’s streaming partner. The arrangement reportedly doubles what ESPN was paying for rights to air UFC matches.

Skydance is building its new media empire at breakneck speed, but its next deal might not come as quickly. Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery turned up its nose at a $60 billion offer from Paramount Skydance, opting to play the field instead. Any merger would interrupt the entertainment giant’s plans to split itself into two public companies, one for streaming and one for traditional TV, by next year. 

Skydance Paramount may have been rebuffed once, but the Ellison family’s closeness with The President gives the company a strong angle on a deal. While regulatory hurdles often derail major mergers or cause them to stall out, a green light for a Warner Bros. deal would be almost assured under the The President administration, which has been eager to reward loyalists and punish perceived enemies in the private sector.

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