Paramount Global Laying Off 800 Employees as CEO Bakish Cites Need to Cut Costs

Sony’s Will Gluck-directed Anyone But You crossed $200M globally over this past weekend, injecting fresh life into the romcom genre and proving yet again that when done right, these films can travel theatrically and bring audiences together for a communal experience. 

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The inevitable M&A question came toward the end of Paramount Global‘s hourlong conference call with Wall Street analysts on Wednesday — a session that undoubtedly would have been more contentious for Paramount leaders if they hadn’t started out by serving up sacrifices for the greater good of free cash flow and profit. Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish waved off the inquiry from Bank of America Merrill Lynch media analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich about the tidal wave of media speculation about suitors coming (and going) for the company with a breezy “We’re always looking for ways to create shareholder value.” But it was clear from the earlier commentary and business updates from Bakish and chief financial officer Naveen Chopra that they are charting a course for this year and next to take streamer Paramount+ to the promised land of profitability and keeps the company entact as a standalone entity.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish derided a planned streaming venture backed by Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery for having “only a subset of sports.”

Paramount Global expects to take a $1 billion charge in the current quarter due to ongoing programming shifts and the layoffs it announced earlier this month.

Paramount Global‘s earnings in the fourth quarter edged Wall Street forecasts, but a double-digit slide in advertising dragged down total revenue by 6%.

The box office may still be doing its best to return to its pre-pandemic heights, but there continue to be encouraging signs all around. The latest is Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” crossing $100 million at the global box office.

Sony said today it will let go about 900 people, or 8% of is global PlayStation headcount, the latest layoffs to hit the gaming industry.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Sony‘s PlayStation has joined the long list of video game companies hit by layoffs in 2024. Approximately 900 Sony Interactive Entertainment employees, or 8% of PlayStation’s global workforce, will be impacted by the cuts, per outgoing-CEO Jim Ryan. Employees across the Americas, EMEA, Japan, and APAC regions will be affected and several studios, including PlayStation’s London studio, will shutter.

Paramount+ may have culled a wealth of international originals in the past couple of weeks but that hasn’t stopped it committing to a UK thriller series set in a world where men live under a strict nightly curfew.

EXCLUSIVE: The news when Deadline speaks to Lisa Kramer is the launch of a Paramount+ branded hub with African pay-TV giant MultiChoice. But a conversation with the President, International TV Licensing at Paramount Global Content Distribution (PGCD), offers a much wider insight into the world of TV in 2024.

Jon Stewart won’t just be slinging jokes on Mondays at “The Daily Show” this spring.The 61-year-old comic, who is currently hosting Comedy Central’s satirical news program once a week, recently announced he’s heading out on an 11-show tour, he’s calling ‘An Evening with Jon Stewart’ from March through May.Along the way, the New York City native and current New Jersey resident will show quite a bit of love to the Northeast.To kick off the run, he’ll perform back-to-back nights at Poughkeepsie, NY’s Bardavon Opera House on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2.Then, on March 29-30, the 2022 Mark Twain Prize Winner for American Humor is slated to headline three shows at Princeton, NJ’s McCarter Theatre Center on March 29-30.Stewart’s brief trek will come to a close close at the sprawling Netflix is a Joke Festival in Los Angeles on Friday, May 3.As of now, tickets are available for all 11 gigs.Prices start at $73 before fees on Vivid Seats at the time of publication.For other shows, seats can be found for anywhere from $77 to $408 before fees.Want to catch the politically astute comedian live this year?We’ve got everything you need to know and more about the ‘An Evening with Jon Stewart Tour’ below.All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues and links to the cheapest tickets available can be found here:(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout.)Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

Jon Stewart used his second episode back on The Daily Show to rip into Tucker Carlson’s trip to Russia to interview Vladimir Putin.The former Fox News anchor now has a show on his own network as well as X/Twitter, and last week he did a sit-down interview with the Russian president, the first Putin has given to a Western journalist since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Responding to the interview, Stewart savaged Carlson for failing to challenge some of Putin’s assertions, and for disingenuously arguing that Russian citizens have an advantage over Americans because groceries are cheaper, something that Carlson claimed made him feel “radicalised”.“You’re such a dick,” Stewart retorted.“It will radicalise you, unless you understand basic economics,” he continued. “See, $104 for groceries sounds like a great bargain, unless you realise that Russians earn less than $200 dollars a week.”“But that’s the kind of context that a – what did you call yourself earlier – a journalist would’ve provided.

Jon Stewart conceded last night that he has some lessons to learn from a Russian-hopping “journalist” like Tucker Carlson. Chastened by Daily Show critics who snarked about the “both-sides-isms” of Stewart’s return to his old late night desk last week, a faux-humbled Stewart set out to learn whatever he could from his newfound mentor-du-jour, the Putin-chatting Tucker Carlson.

Michaela Zee Paramount’s “Mean Girls” musical made fetch happen after surpassing $100 million at the global box office. The oh-so pink movie musical has generated $101.2 million worldwide after six weeks of release, including $71.2 million in North America and $30 million from 31 international territories. Based on the Broadway adaptation of the 2004 comedy classic, “Mean Girls” was originally commissioned with plans to make a streaming debut directly on Paramount+, but executives opted for a theatrical release after enthusiastic test screenings.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Noggin, Nickelodeon’s interactive learning platform for preschool-age kids, is shutting down after almost 10 years, Variety has confirmed. Noggin is a casualty of Paramount Global’s companywide layoffs this week, which resulted in about 800 staffers being let go. The entire team that ran Noggin was laid off, as first reported by trade publication Kisdscreen.

UPDATED: The companywide layoffs at Paramount Global on Tuesday impacted about 20 employees at CBS News, including correspondents Catherine Herridge and Jeff Pegues, several sources said.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Approximately 20 CBS News staffers were given termination notices Tuesday as a result of broader layoffs taking place across Paramount Global. The cuts extended across CBS News operations in Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles, according to two people familiar with the matter, and included two of the news operation’s most prominent correspondents, Jeff Pegues and Catherine Herridge, these people said. A CBS News spokesperson did not respond immediately to a query seeking comment.

EXCLUSIVE UPDATED with more names: Details are starting to emerge about the major round of layoffs Tuesday at Paramount Global impacting about 800 employees in the U.S.

Paramount Global has begun a planned round of layoffs, telling U.S.-based employees that those affected by the cutbacks will be notified by the end of Tuesday.

EXCLUSIVE: We are hearing that Apollo Global Management, who was mulling an offer for National Amusements, the Redstone family company that controls Paramount Global, is no longer considering that now.