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Paramount laid out its vision for the future of the media conglomerate, including significant cost reductions, at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting Tuesday morning.
The presentation was made as Paramount chairman Shari Redstone considers a potential merger with Skydance Media.
Paramount Global’s “Office of the CEO” — a trio of division heads that took over from former CEO Bob Bakish in April — said the company is looking to make $500 million in near-term cuts, including layoffs.
Chris McCarthy, the CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, said one way they would achieve these savings is by “integrating our teams more closely and eliminating redundancies.”
Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon CEO Brian Robbins said the plan “looks forward to build back the best of Paramount by delivering higher revenue with lower costs, which translates to higher earnings and better returns.”
The office, which also includes CBS CEO George Cheeks, said they intend to shift in streaming strategy that focused on the company’s franchises like Spongebob, NCIS, and Star Trek. The company is also seeking to establish a streaming joint-venture.
Looming over the presentation was news that Paramount and Skydance are nearing a potential merger.
CNBC reported Monday that a committee of Paramount’s independent directors and Skydance’s buying group, which includes the private equity firms RedBird Capital Partners and KKR, have agreed to a deal and were just awaiting approval from Redstone.
McCarthy briefly acknowledged the potential deal during the meeting.
“While, we cannot comment on the speculation [of a merger]. What I can tell you is that the presentation that you just saw was built to improve the company’s balance sheet to best set it up for growth and to drive shareholder value regardless of the speculation,” he said.
Paramount Global stock fell 3% following the meeting.