Paramount Global’s “Office of the CEO” troika of Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy convened a “town hall” live audience of around 500 employees, with thousands more tuned in remotely, Tuesday at the Paramount Theater off Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.
With the trio already signaling weeks earlier at Paramount’s shareholder meeting about pending layoffs and other trims meant to generate $500 million in annual cost savings, the first big company convening since Skydance Media acquisition talks collapsed earlier this month revealed little in the way of fresh new details about the business.
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Employees, for example, still don't know when job cuts are going to occur or how many workers will be involved.
Cheeks, however, did reveal that the company has hired bankers who are “looking at selling certain Paramount-owned assets.”
It appears Paramount will indeed be sold by the piece, at least to some extent.
“We'll use the proceeds to help pay down debt and strengthen our balance sheet," he added.
Meanwhile, on the topic of Paramount Plus, McCarthy said, “We are advancing talks with potential partners that will significantly transform the scale and economics of the service making it profitable and driving long-term value. This approach could also serve as a model for the U.S.”
McCarthy also noted that Paramount profits have declined 61% since 2018.
“Let me be clear, a 61% decline in profits is simply unacceptable,” he said. “We need to act now to reverse this trend.”
