Paramount is laying off 1,000 employees, with more cuts expected

Paramount Skydance It will cut nearly 1,000 jobs starting Wednesday, just months after its merger closed, according to a person close to the situation. The layoffs will eventually reach 2,000 jobs, the person said.

“When we launched the new Paramount in August, we made clear that building a strong, future-focused company would require significant change — including restructuring the organization,” CEO David Ellison told employees in a memo Wednesday morning. “As part of this process, we must also reduce the size of our workforce, and we recognize that these actions impact our most important asset: our employees.”

The merger between Paramount and Skydance closed in August, weeks after receiving long-awaited regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

Shortly after the deal closed, Ellison and Paramount management sent a telegram about the upcoming job cuts and said they had identified more than $2 billion in cost synergies.

In a memo Wednesday, Ellison said the cuts would address “the redundancy that has emerged across the organization,” as well as “phasing out roles that are no longer aligned with our evolving priorities and a new structure designed to enhance our focus on growth.”

“Ultimately, these steps are necessary to position Paramount for long-term success,” Ellison said in the memo. The layoffs will occur across the company, which includes CBS News, a group of pay-TV networks and a movie studio.

Under Ellison’s leadership, Paramount has made a series of changes and deals since the summer – including a 7-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal for TKO Group’s UFC and the acquisition of online publication The Free Press. The company also submitted three acquisition offers for: Warner Bros. Discovery In recent weeks, CNBC previously reported.

Although this is the first round of layoffs for the newly combined company, Paramount went through a series of employee cuts before closing the deal. In 2024, Paramount’s previous leadership said it would reduce its U.S. workforce by 15%.

In June, Paramount reduced its US-based staff by 3.5%, or several hundred employees, CNBC reported at the time.

Widespread layoffs have hit the media industry in recent months, as companies face the decline of their traditional pay-TV package and macroeconomic headwinds that have weighed on advertising revenue.

— CNBC’s Julia Boorstin contributed to this article.