The co-CEOs of Paramount Global presented their plan for the company’s future at a company town hall meeting on Tuesday (June 25), reporting that bankers have already been hired to explore asset sales and talks about partnerships in international streaming are advancing.
Speaking to employees two weeks after Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media broke down, co-CEO Brian Robbins acknowledged, according to sources, “what a difficult and disruptive period it has been. And while we cannot say that the noise will disappear, we are here today to lay out a go-forward plan that can set us up for success no matter what path the company chooses to go down.”
The plan followed the outline presented at Paramount’s annual shareholder meeting on June 4 by the three Office of the CEO executives: CBS president and CEO George Cheeks, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks president and CEO Chris McCarthy and Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon president and CEO Robbins.
Cheeks explained that to optimise the company’s asset mix “We’re looking at selling certain Paramount-owned assets – in fact we’ve already hired bankers to assist us in this process – and we’ll use the proceeds to help pay down debt and strengthen our balance sheet.”
In international streaming with the Paramount+ service, said McCarthy, “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 US.”
The CEOs also reiterated that the company is looking to save $500m a year in costs. At the shareholder meeting Cheeks had said the cost-cutting would affect “duplicated teams and functions across the organisation, in real estate, technology, marketing and other corporate overhead categories.”
According to reports, Shari Redstone, whose National Amusements owns a majority stake in Paramount Global, did not address the meeting, which was attended by around 500 people on the Paramount lot in Hollywood with thousands of others participating remotely.
The meeting had originally been set for June 5 but was postponed after Redstone called off the long-running talks with Skydance.
The sale of some or all of National Amusements’ Paramount stake is thought to be an option that Redstone is still considering, with groups headed by former studio mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr and producer Steven Paul among potential buyers.
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