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After financial woes and months of struggling to secure an acquisition before agreeing to a merger with Skydance Media, Paramount has announced that it will cut roughly 15% of its total U.S. workforce as a part of wider cost-cutting initiatives.
Paramount said that approximately 2,000 workers will be let go, with job cuts beginning in the coming weeks and set to wrap up by the end of the year.
Related: Paramount Leadership Alludes to Layoffs
Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy said that the layoffs would affect two sectors: "redundant functions" for those in marketing and communications and those who work in finance, legal, tech, and other support areas in an attempt to continue "streamlining" the corporate structure.
"As you can imagine, these are difficult decisions to make," McCarthy said on a Q2 2024 earnings call with investors. "We have incredibly talented people at Paramount, and these actions are not reflections of their contributions. Rather, they are necessary to transform our organization for the future."
The news comes just one day after rival Warner Bros. Discovery posted a $10 billion net loss and a $9.1 billion write-down on television assets, pointing to a wider industry trend of a declining cable audience amid the rise of streaming services. Paramount wrote down the value of its cable networks by nearly $6 billion in Q2.
At Paramount, whispers of layoffs began in June at the annual shareholder meeting when executives revealed a plan to cut costs by roughly $500 million and noted that this would include "removing "duplicative teams and functions across the organization, real estate, marketing, and other corporate overhead categories."
Related: Paramount Is Laying Off Hundreds of Employees Just Days After 'Blockbuster' Super Bowl LVIII Success
"To be clear, $500 million in cost savings is just the beginning," Co-CEO Bob Cheeks said on the call, per CNBC.
Paramount laid off an estimated 800 employees earlier this year after the company broadcasted Super Bowl LVIII to "return the company to earnings growth" amid debt-related costs.
Early last month, Paramount and Skydance Media agreed to a merger valued at an estimated $8 billion after approval from majority shareholder Shari Redstone.
Paramount Global was down about 33% year-over-year on Friday morning.
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