Paramount will lay off 15% of American staffers in a new round of cuts

Paramount Global will cut 15% of its U.S. workforce in the coming weeks, a new round of layoffs ahead of its planned merger with Skydance Media.

The details were announced during Paramount’s Q2 earnings call, after the company announced a huge operating loss on a $5.98 billion writedown on the value of its cable TV networks. The devaluation of Paramount’s cable business was tied to its agreement to be acquired by Skydance Media, which is expected to close on September 30, 2025.

On the call, Chris McCarthy, head of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, said the job cuts will be primarily in the company’s marketing and communications departments, with some “right sizing” in other areas, including legal. McCarthy said Paramount expects to complete the layoffs by the end of 2024.

Paramount Global had 21,900 employees at the end of 2023. In February, the company eliminated about 800 positions.

Currently, the company is led by three executives in the Office of the CEO: McCarthy, CBS CEO George Cheeks and Brian Robbins, president/CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.

The three co-CEOs previously announced plans to cut $500 million in annual costs, including through layoffs, before the Skydance pact was struck with controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and the Paramount board. The management trio had already started eliminating duplication, including within corporate functions such as legal and corporate marketing. Variety reported.

The Skydance team’s cost savings targets were even more aggressive. Jeff Shell, who will become president of the combined company, has said Skydance, working with consulting firm Bain & Co., aims to realize at least $2 billion in annualized cost synergies at Paramount. On the earnings call, Paramount’s Cheeks said the $500 million in annual cost savings targeted by the co-CEOs was factored into that $2 billion figure.

Shell, chairman of RedBird Sports & Media and former CEO of NBCUniversal, said at a press conference last month that much of those cost savings will come from Paramount’s linear TV business: “We know that linear is being challenged and declining… [We’ve] I have to run these businesses differently as they decline.”