Paramount Announces $500M In Cuts

(DailyDig.com) – Shares of Paramount Global stock fell on June 17 to just $9.91. This was down by two percent from June 14. For the first time since the merger of CBS and Viacom in December 2019, when ViacomCBS became Paramount Global, the price was less than $10.

Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount, supported the company’s decision to establish equal CEOs for Paramount Global. George Cheeks is the CEO and president of CBS, Brian Robbins is the CEO and president of Paramount Pictures, and Chris McCarthy is the CEO and president of Showtime and MTV.

The restructuring aimed to lower expenses by leveraging the company’s extensive entertainment content, thereby improving its financial statements. The executives planned to sell some of their assets to participate in partnerships and joint ventures for their streaming service. Redstone stated on June 4 that each of the CEOs was a leader with experience and respect in their industry. She added that they were responsible for some of Paramount’s successes over the past few years.

So far in 2024, Paramount Global’s stock has fallen by 17 percent.

Alan Gould, a Loop Capital investment banker, reported that the media industry has been changing from cable TV to streaming TV, which is part of the problem with Paramount. Linear TV is disappearing from cable networks that provide general entertainment.

Gould said the co-leadership of the three CEOs have discussed changes to cut costs, and with a base of employees who have spent the last six months unsure of their future, actors, producers, and agents are less than enthused to offer their best efforts for potentially profitable TV or film content.

Experts suggest that Paramount’s financial woes stem from the switch from cable TV to streaming TV. According to other industry sources, subscriptions to cable TV include channels that many subscribers do not watch, yet those channels still receive revenue for their channel, whether watched or not. With more people switching to streaming TV, the loss of revenue is significant.