Paramount Skydance will cut about 1,000 U.S. jobs on Wednesday, Oct. 29, with more rounds to follow. The total is expected to reach roughly 2,000 U.S. positions, with additional international reductions, as the newly merged studio chases more than $2 billion in cost savings.
Variety reports the plan follows the $8 billion Skydance-Paramount deal that closed Aug. 7, after which president Jeff Shell said layoffs and other cuts would be detailed by the company’s third-quarter earnings on Nov. 10.
CEO David Ellison is pursuing an aggressive strategy that includes a still-rebuffed overture to Warner Bros. Discovery, a reported $7 billion seven-year rights deal for UFC, and a four-year exclusive pact bringing “Stranger Things” creators the Duffer Brothers to Paramount.
Ellison recently purchased The Free Press for a reported $150 million and the move to install its founder, Bari Weiss, as editor-in-chief of CBS News. This decision already drawing scrutiny. These cuts land amid the same headwinds squeezing legacy media peers. Linear TV revenues are eroding as audiences shift to streaming, and the theatrical business has not fully recovered from the pandemic.
