Making Sense Of CBS’ Executive Shakeup Amid Streamlining & Cost Cutting At Paramount Global

Paramount Global has announced the seven writers who will be participating Writers Mentoring Program for 2023-2023. Currently in its 19th year and helmed by the Paramount Office of Global Inclusion, the eight-month program provides mentorships, access and opportunity for writers.

The hundreds of layoffs at CNN this week were, as CNN boss Chris Licht predicted, a “gut punch,” but the question for staffers — and viewers — is what will happen next.

Rick Lewchuk is exiting his post as senior vice president of creative marketing and brand standards for CNN Worldwide, amid cost-cutting and layoffs at the network this week.

CBS Studios has teamed with Damon Wayans Jr to create a Baltimore-set version of its African drama MTV Shuga for streaming sister company Paramount+ and is co-producing shows in Australia and on the France-Spain border.

CNN started to inform staffers of layoffs, as its chairman and CEO Chris Licht wrote that notices will go out on Wednesday and Thursday.

EXCLUSIVE: Executive Vice President Scott Grogin is leaving CBS.

A major publishing deal is officially dead in the water as Paramount Global scrapped its sale of Simon & Schuster to Bertelsmann’s Penguin Random House, declining to pursue an appeal after the Department of Justice sued to block the merger and a federal judge upheld the government’s position.

Newly installed entertainment president Amy Reisenbach sent a memo to staff today to bolster confidence in CBS and to remind her team that “broadcast is not dead.”

Gisele Bündchen has unabashedly been living her best life in Costa Rica ever since divorcing Tom Brady last month. As she should! And we’ve been keeping up with her newly single shenanigans… including the fact that she brought jiu-jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente along with her and her children to the tropical destination!

EXCLUSIVE: The changeover at the top of CBS’ entertainment operations continues. I hear Thom Sherman is stepping down as Senior Executive Vice President, Programming, CBS Entertainment and is getting an expansive production deal with the company. The move follows the news broken by Deadline earlier this morning that CBS veteran Kelly Kahl will be leaving his post as President of Entertainment at the end of the year. I hear the network’s head of current Amy Reisenbach will be named new President of Entertainment.

EXCLUSIVE: Kelly Kahl, one of the longest-tenured and most respected top executives in broadcast TV, will leave his post as President of CBS Entertainment at the end of the year after 5½ years in his current role and 26 years total at the network.

Advertising is soft, said Paramount Global’s top finance executive, but the company’s mix of broadcast, FAST, SVOD, and cable “puts us in a very powerful position” to weather the market, as does the sale of a bigger than usual chunk of inventory at the upfront.

EXCLUSIVE: Layoffs are under way at Paramount Global, with several dozen employees expected to leave the company today, insiders have confirmed to Deadline.

Famed investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway knocked Paramount Global shares higher after disclosing that it has raised his stake in the media company.

Gisele Bündchen knows what she’s doing.

The restructuring of Paramount Global’s TV operations continues with another realignment of the company’s linear cable networks. VH1 will move into the BET Media Group, which includes BET, BET+, BET Her, BET Studios and BET Digital and is run by BET CEO Scott Mills. The announcement was made by Paramount Global President and CEO Bob Bakish in a company memo, a copy of which was obtained by Deadline.

No regrets! Gisele Bündchen was spotted enjoying (a probably much-needed) vacation in Costa Rica after finalizing her split from Tom Brady nearly two weeks ago!