Paramount Skydance, aiming to get leaner and meaner, today is laying off about 1,000 employees, mostly in the U.S. David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, sent employees a memo about the companywide cuts, saying “these steps are necessary to position Paramount for long-term success.”
“We want to be as open and direct as possible about the reasons behind these changes,” Ellison wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by Variety. “In some areas, we are addressing redundancies that have emerged across the organization. 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. Ultimately, these steps are necessary to position Paramount for long-term success.”
The layoffs will cut across Paramount’s divisions, including TV, film, streaming and corporate departments. Following Wednesday’s pink-slips, an additional wave of job eliminations is expected to follow, with the target of axing around 2,000 jobs in the U.S. and overseas. All told, the layoffs will reduce the company’s workforce by about 10%.
Ellison and president Jeff Shell signaled their plans to reduce Paramount’s headcount well before Skydance’s takeover of the company was done, as part of their plan to cut upwards of $2 billion in costs.
“When we launched the new Paramount in August, we made clear that building a strong, future-focused company would require significant change – including restructuring the organization,” Ellison said in the Oct. 29 memo.
At the end of 2024, Paramount reported having about 18,600 full- and part-time employees in 32 countries worldwide. (Two years earlier, Paramount’s headcount was 24,500.) Prior to the closing of the Skydance deal Aug. 7, Paramount made additional layoffs, including a 3.5% reduction of its domestic staff in June.
Even with the staff reductions, Ellison has been spending big on content deals since closing the deal forming Paramount Skydance. That has included inking a deal with the UFC worth $7.7 billion over seven years and acquiring Bari Weiss’ The Free Press for a reported $150 million.
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
In addition, Ellison and his financial partners have been pursuing a megadeal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery and merge it with Paramount Skydance — a combination that would lead to even more job cuts. After rejecting Ellison’s $23.50/share offer for the company in its entirety, the board of WBD has initiated a formal M&A review process to evaluate bids from “multiple parties.”
Read Ellison’s memo to Paramount employees about the job cuts:
Dear All,
When we launched the new Paramount in August, we made clear that building a strong, future-focused company would require significant change – including restructuring the organization. As part of that process, we must also reduce the size of our workforce, and we recognize these actions affect our most important asset: our people.
We want to be as open and direct as possible about the reasons behind these changes. In some areas, we are addressing redundancies that have emerged across the organization. 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. Ultimately, these steps are necessary to position Paramount for long-term success.
That said, today we begin the difficult process of informing impacted team members across the company. These decisions are never made lightly, especially given their effect on our colleagues who have made meaningful contributions to the company. To this end, we are committed to supporting all employees through this transition. Members of our HR team will be working closely with business unit leaders to share detailed information on benefits and transition services. Additional questions can be directed to [human resources].
We are deeply grateful for your hard work, professionalism, and resilience during this period of transition. We remain confident that Paramount’s best days are ahead, and we’re committed to building a strong foundation for the future.
Thank you,
David
From Variety US