Layoffs are coming down at Paramount Skydance this week, with the freshly merged company looking to slash approximately 1,000 jobs primarily in the U.S. on Wednesday, Oct. 29, Variety has confirmed.
Following this week’s cuts, more layoffs are expected at a later date, a source familiar with the plans said. Paramount Skydance, headed by chairman and CEO David Ellison, is undertaking a series of deep staffing cuts that are expected to eliminate a total of around 2,000 jobs in the U.S., with additional layoffs taking place internationally.
A rep for Paramount Skydance declined to comment. The company’s layoff plans for this week were reported earlier by Bloomberg.
Major job cuts have been expected even before the Skydance Media-Paramount Global deal closed, as part of a stated goal of slashing upwards of $2 billion in costs.
At an Aug. 7 press conference in New York after the $8 billion Skydance-Paramount merger officially closed, Jeff Shell, the ex-CEO of NBCUniversal who is now president of Paramount Skydance, told reporters that the company would make cost cuts and layoffs as swiftly as possible and be disclosed by the company’s third-quarter 2025 earnings report to investors in November. Paramount Skydance will report Q3 financial results on Nov. 10 after the market closes.
Ellison, founder of Skydance Media, has grand ambitions for the entertainment giant. They include a possible second deal for Warner Bros. Discovery that would transform the combined company into a sprawling rival that might better compete with streaming giants like Netflix and newcomers to the entertainment space such as Apple and Amazon, which have invested heavily in entertainment. So far, Warner Bros. Discovery has rejected his overtures.
Since taking over Paramount, Ellison has opened his wallet. Paramount shelled out $7 billion for an exclusive seven-year deal for the rights to UFC. The company also recently lured the Duffer Brothers, the creators of “Stranger Things,” over from Netflix with a new four-year exclusive pact to make movies, shows and streaming programming. Some of Ellison’s moves have been more controversial, such as his purchase of the right-leaning outlet The Free Press for a reported $150 million and decision to install its founder, Bari Weiss, as editor-in-chief of CBS News despite her lack of television experience.
Ellison, the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, has signaled a willingness to be aggressive. However, Paramount is grappling with the same issues that are plaguing other media giants. Namely, revenues are falling as viewers have shifted away from cable and broadcast television towards streaming and the theatrical film business has yet to recover from Covid.
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