US entertainment conglomerate Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) which owns CBS, Nickelodeon, Paramount+ and others, intends to reduce its workforce by 15% under a $500 billion cost-saving plan.
The news was delivered to shareholders during Paramount’s second-quarter earnings call, when Paramount also noted a $5.98 billion goodwill impairment charge for its Cable Networks reporting unit due to “a downward adjustment to the reporting unit’s expected cash flows”.
It comes as Paramount prepares to merge with independent film studio Skydance Media to create a $28 billion entity.
The nearly $6 billion write down caused Paramount to chalk up a $5.3 billion operating loss in the second quarter, although on an adjusted basis, the group increased its earnings by 43% to $867 million.
Paramount’s film department saw revenues fall by 18% as the strong box office debuts of If and A Quiet Place: Day One failed to match the drawing power of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in the prior year.
On a positive note, the Paramount+ streaming service grew its revenues by 46% year on year in the quarter, although global subscriber count fell by 2.8 million due to a partnership exit in South Korea.
Paramount is not the only media giant to write down the value of its TV network.
Earlier this week, media conglomerate Warner Bros Discovery Inc (NASDAQ:WBD, ETR:J5A) slashed the value of its cable channels by $9.1 billion.