2024 layoffs: Paramount Global to lay off 800 employees

Paramount Global is laying off about 800 employees, or roughly 3% of its workforce, CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The media industry has been grappling with the changing landscape of streaming gaining dominance over traditional television and the impact from the Hollywood strikes last year. A soft advertising market and economic uncertainties have added to the pressure.

The affected workers will be notified Tuesday, the report quoted Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish as saying in an internal memo to employees.

“These adjustments will help enable us to build on our momentum and execute our strategic vision for the year ahead – and I firmly believe we have much to be excited about,” Bakish wrote in the note, CNBC reported.

Paramount Global did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Bakish had said in January the company would let go of an unspecified number of employees.

Paramount will focus its resources on its “most powerful, resonant franchises, films and series” and produce fewer local, international originals, Bakish had said. The studio is home to film franchises such as “Top Gun” and “Mission: Impossible,” as well as the hit television show “Yellowstone.”

Overall, more than 34,000 workers have been let go from 141 tech companies worldwide so far this year, according to tracking website Layoffs.fyi. Major media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and Business Insider, have also cut jobs.

Paramount had about 24,500 full- and part-time employees in 37 countries and about 5,800 project-based staff on its payroll as of December 31, 2022, according to a regulatory filing.

The layoffs come a day after Paramount’s CBS broadcast network said the Super Bowl drew record audience of 123.4 million viewers across TV and streaming platforms, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings.

—By Samrhitha Arunasalam, Reuters

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