Paramount Skydance, the Hollywood audio-visual giant that emerged last August from the merger of the historic Paramount Film Group and independent production company Skydance, announced that it would cut about 1,600 jobs, in addition to a workforce adjustment implemented at the end of October that affected 1,000 workers, most of them in the United States. The layoffs are part of a broader strategic review that also includes the sale of assets in Latin America. Specifically, the company is divesting itself from Argentina’s Federal Television (Telefe) and Chilevision, operations it expects to complete in the first quarter of 2026, according to Europe Press.
In a letter to shareholders on Tuesday, President and CEO David Ellison explained that these measures and other “structural efficiencies yet to come” prompted the company to raise its “operational efficiency” target, i.e. cost savings, from $2,000 to $3,000 million (from €1,730 to €2,595 million at the current exchange rate).
According to the statement, the company plans to implement operational savings worth $1.4 billion (€1,211 million) by the end of 2025 and complete its transformation program by the end of 2027. The adjustments do not end there: to achieve the planned cost efficiencies, the multinational confirms that it will examine other areas of spending with the aim of maximizing margins and stimulating strong free cash flow generation. The presented plan envisions a specific impact of about $800 million (692 million euros) in 2026, and between 400 and 500 million (346 and 432 million euros) in 2027.
Part of the savings obtained will be allocated to programming, technology and strategic alliances. By 2026, $1,500 million (€1,297 million) is expected to be invested in audiovisual content, which includes investments in the UFC, the American mixed martial arts (MMA) organization; on Paramount+ Originals, which produces original series and movies on its streaming platform. My neighbor; and in third party catalog licenses.
All of these cuts are happening in the midst of an attempt to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. In addition to film and television studios, Paramount owns channels such as CBS and MTV. Warner Bros., which is also a film producer, owns CNN, HBO and the HBO Max platform.
The company announced in the press release that, to support investment in its Paramount+ platform, it plans to implement price increases in the United States at the beginning of the first quarter of 2026 following those recently announced in Canada and Australia.
At the end of October, with the announcement of the workforce adjustment, the company introduced a phased return to the office plan starting in January 2026 in which employees return to working in the office full-time five days a week. Paramount Skydance, which in the first phase of the plan offered employees in its Los Angeles and New York offices the option of voluntary separation if they were unable or unwilling to return to the office full-time, noted that approximately 600 employees chose that alternative.
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