Paramount Global Co-CEOs Reveal Bankers Hired To Sell Assets; Discuss Path Forward At Town Hall

After rejecting Skydancer’s offer to merge two weeks ago, Paramount Global new co-CEO troika of Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy told a packed company town hall of 500 at the studio’s Melrose Lot Paramount Theater what progress has been made since the annual shareholders meeting three weeks ago, and what the company’s path will be going forward. In sum, bankers have been hired to explore the sale of “certain Paramount owned assets” per Cheeks, while layoffs are on the horizon as the conglom looks to achieve a half billion in cost savings.

Paramount Global controlling shareholder Shari Redstone was not part of today’s town hall, we hear, which clocked about an hour with 15 to 20 minutes of Q&A.

The Town Hall was originally scheduled three weeks ago but was delayed when it appeared the entertainment conglomerate was seriously weighing an offer from David Ellison’s Skydance.

At the top of today’s town hall, Robbins exclaimed, “We’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the challenges of all the M&A speculation surrounding our company. We know 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 trio were frank with employees about cuts and the elimination of duplicated jobs will occur. This was one of the three pillars on how Paramount Global plans to ratchet up profits. Already it was conveyed that conglom has transformed the cost base of the company with work underway across corporate functions like legal and corporate marketing. The execs trumpeted that while revenue spiked by 13% between 2018 and 2023, OIBDA declined 61% over the same period.

McCarthy added, “Let me be clear….a 61% decline in profits is simply unacceptable…..we need to act now to reverse this trend.”

Cheeks emphasized that the conglom has definite plans to unload “certain Paramount owned assets” and has “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.” The no-brainer in regards of a sale is BET, which we’ve heard has operated largely autonomous from the rest of Paramount Global.

The trio echoed what they mentioned earlier at the annual shareholders meeting that a plan is underway to find a strategic partner for Paramount+, especially as they try to make-up for linear declines at the company. In regards to accomplishments made since that announcement McCarthy specified that was in “International – 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 U.S.” 

Former Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish was acknowledged at the town hall for his efforts at the company.

There’s been a lot going on in Paramount land. This Friday, the studio releases the third installment in their blockbuster A Quiet Place series, A Quiet Place: Day One with an eye at a $42M, possibly even $50M start. The world premiere for that John Karsinski production is tomorrow in New York City.

Amid news following the shareholder meeting earlier this month that the studio is looking for a joint venture partner on streaming service Paramount+, it was announced that a price hike would take effect, with and without a Showtime tier, later this summer. In sum, the Showtime plan upticks by a buck to $12.99/month for both existing and new customers, while the monthly cost of the Paramount+ Essential plan will shoot up $2 to $7.99/month for all new subscribers. The Paramount+ Limited Commercial Plan is increasing $1 to $7.99 for current subs.