mixmotive
Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) (NASDAQ:PARAA) is confirming that it’s joining the wide range of companies announcing layoffs, and looking to stay focused as merger & acquisition chatter continues to swirl around the media giant.
Paramount stock rose Thursday — (PARA) +4.2%, (PARAA) +4.4% — alongside reports that David Ellison made an offer to buy Paramount parent National Amusements and combine it with his Skydance Media.
Other reports on Monday suggested Paramount was set to lay off about 800 — and while there’s no new detail on that number, the company will indeed cut jobs amid a need to “operate as a leaner company and spend less.”
“Our priority is to drive earnings growth. And we’ll get there by growing our revenue while closely managing costs — a balance that will require every team, division and brand to be aligned,” CEO Bob Bakish said in an employee memo reported by CNBC.
Along with a move to “expand our shared services model as we streamline operations,” Paramount would also reduce international content spending, according to the report.
As for buyout offers, Bakish told employees at a town hall meeting to stay focused in the tumultuous atmosphere, Bloomberg reported.
“Amid all this change, it’s no surprise that Paramount remains a topic of speculation,” Bakish said at the meeting, according to the report. “We’re a storied public company in a closely followed industry. But I have always believed the best thing we can do is concentrate on what we can control — execution.”
He echoed the memo’s emphasis on international streamlining as well, Bloomberg said. The company will make fewer original programs for foreign audiences to focus on bigger worldwide franchises, and “lean even further into large markets like the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia, where we have a strong multiplatform presence, our US studio content resonates best, and where there is the greatest revenue potential.”
