Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish’s 2023 Pay Totals $31.3M, Down Slightly From Prior Year

Paramount Global, which is in the midst of corporate upheaval on a number of fronts, got a slight reprieve in one key area, extending carriage negotiations with Charter Communications.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The three Paramount Global executives installed to run the company after Bob Bakish was removed as CEO sought to reassure employees that they have a long-term strategy. On Monday, Paramount Global said Bakish was stepping down as CEO and leaving the board. In his place, the company established an “Office of the CEO” committee led by three divisional heads: George Cheeks, president and CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy, president and CEO, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins, president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The recent broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII boosted Paramount Global‘s first quarter of 2024, stabilizing advertising revenue at its TV operations, as the company’s streaming operations added more than 3 million subscribers and cut losses there by more than 40%. Overall, Paramount narrowed its first quarter operating losses while seeing a 6% uptick in revenue, due in large part to audience and advertiser interest in its Big Game presentation, which set a new viewing record.

After trying to reassure Wall Street with their brief opening remarks at the Paramount Global earnings call, the trio executives named to the newly formed Office of the CEO looked to do the same with the company’s employees rattled by the sudden ouster of longtime CEO Bob Bakish amid sale negotiations with Skydance.

George Cheeks, Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy, the Paramount Global executives chosen to occupy the Office of the CEO as a replacement for the departing Bob Bakish, sought to reassure Wall Street on Monday that they have a plan.

Paramount Global‘s CEO Bob Bakish is out. The executive who has been a presence at several iterations of the company since 1997 will exit, effective immediately. A triumvirate of division heads — Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy — will step in to lead the company for now in a new office of the CEO.

David Ellison’s Skydance has presented Paramount Global board’s special committee with a revised offer to take control of the company, Deadline has learned. Terms weren’t immediately available, story will be updated when they are. The new proposal is likely designed to make a deal more palatable to Paramount investors beyond controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, something that her family holding company NAI had requested.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer As turmoil continues to surround the future of Paramount Global, details surrounding interim leadership and its proposed Skydance deal are coming to light, multiple sources told Variety. Sunday was a consequential day in Shari Redstone’s ongoing exclusive bargaining window with David Ellison‘s Skydance, one that would see the Hollywood scion take majority ownership of Paramount Global and its owner National Amusements Inc. Skydance offered its “best and final” offer to Redstone on Sunday, sources added.

Confusion and anxiety reigned at a CBS-Politico joint party today ahead of the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, with staffers shocked at news that Bob Bakish, CEO of parent Paramount Global, is set to exit abruptly as early as Monday morning.

Paramount Global is set to announce as early as Monday morning that Bob Bakish is stepping down as CEO amid talks with Skydance and ahead of the company’s quarterly earnings that afternoon.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Amid the M&A drama enveloping Paramount Global, Bob Bakish is about to step down as CEO after eight years at the helm of Shari Redstone’s media empire. Bakish is expected to resign under pressure as early as Monday.

Ethan Shanfeld David Cross and Bob Odenkirk made headlines in 2022 when they announced plans to reunite for the docu-style Paramount+ comedy “Guru Nation,” in which the “Mr. Show” masterminds were cast as rival cult gurus manipulating the minds of their deluded followers.

Board members at Paramount Global are reportedly considering the removal of CEO Bob Bakish as discussions continue with Skydance Media about a complex, multi-step merger.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Bob Bakish may be out at Paramount Global before any sale or merger deal for the media company is completed. The board of directors of Paramount Global, including controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, have discussed a plan to oust Bakish as CEO, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. Instead, the company would form an “Office of the CEO” comprising Paramount Global’s division heads to run operations on an interim basis, per the report.

Skydance and Paramount are deep into hashing out a complicated deal that would see the David Ellison’s studio and its backers take control of the storied film and television company owned by Shari Redstone. The exclusive month-long negotiating period through May 3 is likely to be extended perhaps by a few weeks, Deadline hears, given the complexity of the transaction.

Jo Ann Ross, whose lengthy run as the head of ad sales at CBS represented a breakthrough for a woman in the traditionally male-dominated field, is formally winding down her tenure at Paramount Global.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Jo Ann Ross, the first woman to run a broadcast TV network’s ad-sales efforts and one of the last senior ad-sales executives in the TV industry to hold direct relationships with advertisers when primetime broadcast programs were seen as the primary venue for Madison Avenue’s dollars, is leaving the industry, stepping down from her role as chairman of Paramount Global‘s ad sales division at the end of April. Ross had already stepped back from day to day duties, ceding that role to John Halley, who was named president of ad sales for the company in 2022.

Paramount Global shares jumped 13% Friday as investors cheered news that Sony Pictures Entertainment is talking with Apollo Global Management about joining Apollo’s bid for Paramount.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “She-Hulk” star Tatiana Maslany went viral during the SAG-AFTRA strike last year when she called out Disney CEO Bob Iger for being “completely out of touch” due to his controversial comments about the Hollywood work stoppage. That “She-Hulk” was a Disney-backed Marvel series streaming on Disney+ only drew more heightened attention to her Iger call out.

Remember those rumors, oh, eight years ago about how Sony was a target for acquisition?