Most cuts will affect U.S. staff as the newly merged company begins a $2 billion cost-saving plan to streamline operations.
WASHINGTON — Paramount is preparing to lay off approximately 1,000 employees Wednesday, with an additional 1,000 layoffs expected to happen at a later date, according to Deadline and Variety. The cuts come as part of a larger effort to streamline operations and reduce costs following the company’s recent merger with Skydance.
Most of the initial layoffs will impact U.S.-based staff, though international staff are also expected to see reductions in the coming weeks, according to the reports. The move comes after Paramount and Skydance finalized their $8.4 billion merger in August, promising that a $2 billion cost-saving initiative would shortly follow.
Paramount executives had originally planned for the layoffs to take place in November but recently accelerated the timeline, Deadline reported.
Jeff Shell, president of the newly merged company and former president of NBCUniversal, previously said the cuts would be handled as efficiently as possible. “We don’t want to be a company that has layoffs every quarter,” Shell said at a press conference in August.
The reductions follow several prior rounds of job cuts under Paramount’s previous leadership, including three waves in 2024 that eliminated about 15% of the company’s U.S. workforce.
The merger with Skydance marked a new chapter for the company, led by CEO David Ellison, who has already attempted multiple times to acquire rival Warner Bros. Discovery and recently signed the company on with a $7 billion deal for UFC airing rights.
With previous layoffs within Paramount, Deadline reported that divisions reliant on theatrical releases and linear TV have been the most heavily impacted.