Under new ownership, Paramount is preparing to extend the pink slip to thousands of employees.
According to multiple reports, Paramount, under the directive of new owner David Ellison, is expected to lay off between 2,000 and 3,000 employees in the United States as part of an effort to cut $2 billion in costs. Todd Spangler of Variety characterized the job cuts as “a broad across-the-board culling.” If such a characterization proves accurate, CBS Sports is likely to face some number of layoffs.
Last year, the company reported it employed about 18,600 full-time and part-time employees across the globe, meaning Paramount is eyeing about a 10-15% reduction in staff. The news comes after Paramount laid off 3.5% of its domestic staff earlier this summer, prior to the closing of the Skydance deal.
With Ellison now in charge, Paramount is exploring further acquisitions. The billionaire heir to the Oracle fortune recently submitted a $60 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, a transaction that would further solidify the company’s foothold in live sports. Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly rejected the offer, though Ellison is still eyeing a variety of ways to acquire the company.
It’s unclear exactly how impacted CBS Sports will be during the extensive layoffs. Mere days after Ellison and Skydance took over operations of Paramount, the company shocked the industry by winning UFC broadcast rights for a whopping $1.1 billion per year. That type of deal would seemingly signal the value new ownership is placing on its sports division. But if the layoffs are as extensive as the reports would indicate, it’s difficult to imagine CBS Sports would go completely unaffected.
Per Deadline, the layoffs are expected to begin the week of October 27.
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