<\/p>\n
Tech scion David Ellison marked his 96th day running Paramount by disclosing an upbeat financial outlook for next year and a plan to cut an additional 1,600 workers. <\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s conference call with analysts was the first time Ellison, Paramount\u2019s chairman and chief executive, directly addressed Wall Street after merging his production company, Skydance Media, with Paramount in August \u2014 an $8-billion deal that ushered the Redstone family from the entertainment stage. <\/p>\n
One of Ellison\u2019s top priorities will be to reverse decades of under-investment in programming. . Paramount plans to increase content spending by $1.5 billion next year, including nearly doubling the number of movies that it releases. The Melrose Avenue studio intends to boost output from eight releases to 15 that are planned for next year.<\/p>\n
Investing in technology is another priority, which Ellison referred to as one of its \u201cnorth stars.\u201d Executives want to build streaming service Paramount+ as the economics crumble for Paramount\u2019s once profitable cable television division, which includes Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. Paramount also owns CBS stations and the CBS broadcast network.<\/p>\n
Paramount announced it will be hiking streaming subscription fees \u2014 Paramount+ plans now are offered at $7.99 a month and $12.99 a month \u2014 although executives declined to say how much. The goal is to turn its streaming operations profitable this year.<\/p>\n
Paramount said the additional 1,600 layoffs, on top of 1,000 job cuts last month, were necessary to operate more efficiently.<\/p>\n
Some of the reduction stems from the company\u2019s divestiture of television stations in Chile and Argentina.<\/p>\n
The layoffs come after more than 800 people \u2014 or about 3.5% of the company\u2019s workforce \u2014 were laid off in June, <\/a>prior to the Ellison family takeover.<\/p>\n Ellison and his team have been looking to reduce the company\u2019s workforce by 15%.<\/p>\n On Monday, Paramount executives said they should be able to realize about $3 billion in cost cuts \u2014 $1 billion more than initially advertised. The company\u2019s goal is to complete its cost reductions within two years.<\/p>\n The earnings report comes as Paramount has been pursuing Warner Bros. Discovery, a proposed merger that would unite two of Hollywood\u2019s original film studios and bulk up Paramount by adding the HBO Max streaming service, a larger portfolio of cable channels, pioneering cable news service celebrity.land and the historic Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank.<\/p>\n Paramount executives declined to discuss its dealings for Warner Bros. Discovery, which has rejected three offers, including a $58-billion bid for the entire company. Ellison\u2019s father, billionaire Larry Ellison, has agreed to back Paramount\u2019s bid. <\/p>\n However, his son spoke broadly about its motivations for any acquisition during the conference call.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst and foremost, we\u2019re focused on what we\u2019re building at Paramount and transforming the company,\u201d David Ellison said. \u201cThere\u2019s no must-haves for us. …. It\u2019s always going to be, how do we accelerate and improve our north-star principles?\u201d<\/p>\n Total revenue for Paramount\u2019s third quarter was $6.7 billion, flat compared with the year-earlier period. Paramount reported a net loss of $257 million for the quarter.<\/p>\n Paramount+ and other streaming services grew by 1.4 million subscribers to 79 million, although 1.2 million of those consumers benefit from free trials. Quarterly Revenue for the streaming operations, including Pluto TV, was up 17%. <\/p>\n The cost-cutting comes as Ellison, 42, has accelerated spending in other areas, including agreeing to pay $7.7 billion for the rights to UFC fights<\/a> and $1.25 billion over five years<\/a> to Matt Stone and Trey Parker to continue creating their \u201cSouth Park\u201d cartoon. <\/p>\n His team, including former Netflix programming chief Cindy Holland, also lured Matt and Ross Duffer, the duo behind \u201cStranger Things,\u201d away from Netflix<\/a>. Paramount also paid $150 million to buy the Free Press and bring its co-founder, Bari Weiss<\/a>, to the company as CBS News editor in chief.<\/p>\n