Paramount will lay off 2,000 employees

Paramount began this Wednesday (29) to lay off more than 2,000 employees, a long-awaited consequence of the merger with Hollywood studio Skydance.

The cuts, announced internally by Paramount CEO David Ellison, will initially include about 1,000 employees across the United States across multiple divisions including CBS News, the Paramount film studio and cable networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon and BET. The rest of the cuts, which will affect some of Paramount’s international employees, will come at a later date.

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In total, Paramount plans to cut about 10% of the combined company.

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In a memo sent to employees on Wednesday, Ellison said the cuts are focused on eliminating redundant positions or eliminating positions that are not aligned with Paramount’s evolving priorities.

“These decisions are never made lightly, especially considering the impact on our colleagues who have made significant contributions to the company,” Ellison said in the memo.

Paramount employees, who have undergone almost annual corporate reorganizations, had been preparing for the layoffs for months. When Skydance announced its merger with Paramount last year, the company said it was seeking $2 billion in synergies, a Wall Street term for cost cutting.

Ellison indicated earlier this year that big changes were coming. In September, he sent a memo informing employees that they would be expected to return to the office five days a week for the next few months. Employees who were unwilling or unable to return to the office would be eligible for a severance package, he said.

Some of Paramount’s most senior employees have already announced their departures as layoffs approach. Pam Kaufman, head of Paramount’s international business, told employees in September that she would leave the company after more than 25 years. Chris Aronson, president of U.S. distribution at Paramount Pictures, said this month that he would step down in December.

Waves of layoffs have become the new normal in Hollywood as executives merge companies and try to cut billions in costs after those deals close. The specter of further cuts has been a topic of conversation in Hollywood in recent days, as Ellison plans a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company of CNN, HBO and Warner Bros.