Paramount has introduced widespread layoffs, reducing about 800 jobs or 3% of its workforce as the corporate struggles to transition from conventional linear tv to streaming.
In a memo to workers, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish stated the cuts had been needed “to return the corporate to earnings progress” and construct momentum to execute its long-term imaginative and prescient. Workers impacted embrace staff throughout Paramount’s portfolio – on the Paramount Photos film studio, CBS, and cable TV networks like Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and BET, in addition to the Paramount+ and Pluto TV streaming providers.
“Whereas I realise these adjustments are under no circumstances simple, as I stated final month, I’m assured that is the appropriate choice for our future,” Bakish wrote within the memo. “These changes will assist allow us to construct on our momentum and execute our strategic imaginative and prescient for the yr forward — and I firmly consider we now have a lot to be enthusiastic about.”
The layoffs come simply days after Paramount broadcast Tremendous Bowl LVIII, which drew a file viewers of 123.4 million viewers. However whereas the NFL championship demonstrated the attain of its CBS community, Paramount continues to face revenue struggles in different components of its enterprise.
The corporate’s streaming division, together with Paramount+ and Pluto TV, misplaced over $1 billion in 2022 because it spent closely on content material to compete with Netflix and different providers. Paramount’s linear TV income additionally fell 8% final quarter, with promoting gross sales dropping 14% as extra entrepreneurs shift budgets to digital platforms.
Bakish expressed confidence within the layoffs, organising Paramount “to navigate this transition and emerge stronger.” The job cuts reveal the wrestle to adapt to the streaming period, the place profitability is difficult to attain. Paramount, a media large constructed for the cable period, faces income declines and multi-billion greenback streaming losses.
In a memo to workers, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish stated the cuts had been needed “to return the corporate to earnings progress” and construct momentum to execute its long-term imaginative and prescient. Workers impacted embrace staff throughout Paramount’s portfolio – on the Paramount Photos film studio, CBS, and cable TV networks like Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and BET, in addition to the Paramount+ and Pluto TV streaming providers.
“Whereas I realise these adjustments are under no circumstances simple, as I stated final month, I’m assured that is the appropriate choice for our future,” Bakish wrote within the memo. “These changes will assist allow us to construct on our momentum and execute our strategic imaginative and prescient for the yr forward — and I firmly consider we now have a lot to be enthusiastic about.”
The layoffs come simply days after Paramount broadcast Tremendous Bowl LVIII, which drew a file viewers of 123.4 million viewers. However whereas the NFL championship demonstrated the attain of its CBS community, Paramount continues to face revenue struggles in different components of its enterprise.
The corporate’s streaming division, together with Paramount+ and Pluto TV, misplaced over $1 billion in 2022 because it spent closely on content material to compete with Netflix and different providers. Paramount’s linear TV income additionally fell 8% final quarter, with promoting gross sales dropping 14% as extra entrepreneurs shift budgets to digital platforms.
Bakish expressed confidence within the layoffs, organising Paramount “to navigate this transition and emerge stronger.” The job cuts reveal the wrestle to adapt to the streaming period, the place profitability is difficult to attain. Paramount, a media large constructed for the cable period, faces income declines and multi-billion greenback streaming losses.
