Deadline has been told by myriad sources that it’s about the dollar figure amount as far as job cuts go, not necessarily the headcount, though the number of positions being eliminated across theatrical, streaming, linear and all other divisions is expected to be between 2,500-3,000.While it’s been out there that the incoming Skydance team led by David Ellison has been working with Bain & Company to identify at least $2 billion in cost efficiencies, Ellison emphasized last week during Paramount’s post-merger press conference that cost-cutting is bound to “exceed” $2 billion.Managers will be submitting their list of dismissals to HR between September and October.“We do not want to be a company that has layoffs every quarter,” Paramount president Jeff Shell told the media at the new conglom’s presser last week. “So, it’s going to be painful. It’s always hard, but we don’t want to be a company that every quarter is laying people off.”“So, it is important for us to get done what we’re doing in one big thing and then be done with it,” he added.Paramount counts 18,000 employees around the globe, while Skydance has a staff that’s under 2,000.The new Paramount recently inked a major seven-year media rights agreement worth an average $1.1 billion annually with TKO Group to become the exclusive home of all UFC events in the U.S. starting in 2026. The company also hammered a multi-year exclusive theatrical and streaming deal with the Duffers. Just before the $8.4 billion acquisition of Paramount came together, the studio inked $1.5 billion, five-year license deal with South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.Paramount had no comment on the layoffs.
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