Paramount Global said Monday that CEO Bob Bakish is stepping down from his position, a major management shift at the media and entertainment company as it considers a possible merger or sale.
Paramount said in a rack Monday that it is creating a CEO office to replace Bakish. The role will be filled by three Paramount Global executives: CBS CEO George Cheeks; Chris McCarthy, CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins, CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.
“I have tremendous confidence in George, Chris and Brian,” Shari Redstone, chairman of the board, said in the statement. “They have both the ability to develop and implement a new strategic plan and to work together as true partners.”
Paramount Global is the parent company of CBS News.
Bakish's departure comes at a crucial time for Paramount as the company explores a merger and other deals with several potential partners. In recent weeks, the company has held exclusive discussions with Skydance Media, a media company founded by David Ellison, the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison. according to to published reports.
The discussions are complicated by Paramount's ownership structure, as Shari Redstone – the daughter of late founder Sumner Redstone – effectively controls 77% of the voting shares. Under a proposed deal with Ellison, Redstone would sell her voting stake to Skydance for $2 billion, while other Paramount shareholders would receive shares in a newly merged company, the Journal reported.
The company did not elaborate on the merger discussions in the statement, although the board said it “looks forward to working with George, Chris and Brian as we execute on key initiatives to improve performance and value creation at Paramount Global.”
Bakish's departure marks the end of a long career at Paramount that began in 1997 at Viacom, the film studio's predecessor. He was eventually tapped to lead Viacom and then oversaw the merger of Viacom and CBS in 2019. In 2022, ViacomCBS changed its name to Paramount Global.
In an email to Paramount Global employees, Bakish said: “When I was asked to serve as interim CEO in 2016, I thought it would be a one-month gig. Seven years later, I can truly say I have accepted the opportunity to lead this incredible company has been an unexpected but very welcome gift, and the greatest honor of my professional life.”
In addition, Paramount reported a first-quarter loss of $554 million, significantly smaller than the $1.12 billion loss in the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 6% to $7.69 billion, boosted by strong advertising demand for CBS' Super Bowl broadcast in February and the addition of 3.7 million new subscribers to its Paramount+ streaming service.
The company said Paramount+ ended the quarter with 71 million subscribers, while the service's losses fell to $286 million, compared to $511 million in the same period a year earlier.
