The carnage at Paramount Global continued on Tuesday as the embattled media giant began the second wave of layoffs in a previously announced plan to cut 2,000 jobs.
“90% of these reductions will be completed by the end of the day Tuesday,” Paramount co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins said in the memo.
“Like the entire media industry, we are working to grow streaming profitability while simultaneously adapting to the changing conditions in our traditional businesses,” the CEOs said. “Days like today are never easy, and while it is difficult to say goodbye to valued colleagues, we are sincerely grateful to those who are departing for their countless contributions.”
Paramount announced in August that it would cut 15% of its U.S. workforce as it sought to slash $500 million from its budget ahead of a planned merger with Skydance Media, expected to close next year.
It is unclear when the remaining 10% cut will take effect, but it is likely to happen by the end of 2024, the people said.
Sources told The Post that CBS News will be affected by the cuts, and that its Washington, D.C. bureau will likely take a hit after the 2024 presidential election following the network's decision to move the “CBS Evening News” from the U.S. capital to New York.
The moves also included an announcement over the summer that longtime “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O'Donnell would leave the bottom-ranked station after the election and be replaced by CBS News reporter John Dickerson and WCBS anchorman Maurice DuBois.
A CBS representative declined to comment.
The first set of cuts included the closure of Paramount TV Studios, which produced shows such as “The Offer,” “Reacher” and “13 Reasons Why.”
The company is also grappling with the decline of its traditional cable TV business, in part as advertisers increasingly shift their spending to streaming platforms, and wrote down the value of its cable networks by $6 billion last month.
Company executives said in August that they expected the job cuts to cost the company $300 million to $400 million in the third quarter.
