Paramount Global co-CEOs George Cheeks, Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy thanked staff in a memo today, obtained by Deadline, for tough months rocked by Skydance merger speculation. With that deal a no go, they said, they have plan, one mostly laid out at last week’s annual shareholders meeting, to take the company into the future.While deals are not off the table, the focus of the recently installed executive trio will be to streamline the company, optimize streaming and look to sell off non-core assets. It’s thought likely Par will consider a sale of BET. It put the asset on the block last year but didn’t like the offers it got so yanked it off. Paramount+ is likely to partner with another streamer. The Office of the CEO, which replaced Bob Bakish in May, will also look to cut non-content costs.The pep talk comes after Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone ended months of merger talks with David Ellison’s Skydance. It was a complex deal that would have seen Skydance acquire Redstone’s controlling stake of Par, which would then merge with Skydance. Redstone is likely now to considered a simple sale of her controlling interest. Edgar Bronfman Jr., backed by Bain Capital, is interested, as is producer Steven Paul with a group of deep pocketed investors. But she he may wait a bit to do anything, hoping Paramount’s debt will fall and its value rise in coming months.
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