Hollywood industry insiders are reporting that Paramount, recently acquired by Skydance, is planning to lay off roughly 1,000 workers on Wednesday, with another 1,000 cuts due to follow at an undetermined time. These will mostly affect U.S.-based employees, with more trimming at overseas divisions planned for the coming weeks. The layoffs are expected to impact the Paramount Animation division.
The news is not unexpected, since the $8.4 billion merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media was completed in August. Executives have promised investors cost saving measures totaling up to $2 billion, with a chunk of that change coming from dismissals across its workforce. In a post-merger press conference, President Jeff Shell said cuts would be “efficient” as the newly fused company doesn’t want to be one of those shingles “that has layoffs every quarter.” Prior to the deal’s closure, the Paramount leadership had already undertaken three waves of layoffs in late 2024 that reduced its U.S. payroll by roughly 15%.
Trades are speculating that these moves also feed into Skydance chief David Ellison’s plans to grow his studio empire, as he made repeated offers to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. While these were rebuffed, WBD is planning to go to auction after receiving interest from “multiple parties,” speculated to include Amazon and Comcast.
[Sources: Bloomberg, Deadline]
