Paramount Global, Owner of CBS News, Plans 800 Job Cuts

Paramount Global, the American media conglomerate that owns CBS News, is set to lay off around 800 employees, constituting about 3% of its workforce. The decision follows CBS's record-breaking Super Bowl LVIII two days ago, with Paramount CEO Bob Bakish announcing the move in an internal memo on Tuesday.

The announcement came shortly after CBS disclosed that its broadcast of the annual league championship attracted an average of 123.4 million viewers across all platforms on Sunday.

In the internal memo, Bakish expressed gratitude to those departing, acknowledging their contributions to advancing the company's global content mission. He stated that while the changes were challenging, he believed they were necessary for the company's future success.

ABC7 Chicago reported that the layoffs are part of Paramount Global's efforts to reduce costs and boost revenue. Besides the Paramount Pictures movie studio, Paramount Global owns TV networks such as MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Britain's Channel 5, and the Paramount+ and Pluto streaming platforms.

As of the end of 2022, Paramount Global had approximately 24,500 full-time and part-time staff across 37 nations, along with around 5,800 project-based employees on its payroll.