Paramount Co-CEOs Postpone All-Hands Meeting Because of Speculation Regarding Potential M&A

 Posted on August 23, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  767 words  |  Aldo Pusey

The three execs who lead Paramount Global‘s “Office of the CEO” have called off their planned town hall meeting with employees that had been scheduled for Wednesday, June 5, citing “ongoing speculation regarding potential M&A.”

The trio — CBS CEO George Cheeks, Paramount CEO Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy, CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios — rescheduled the event for June 25. The move comes as Shari Redstone is evaluating a merger offer from David Ellison’s Skydance Media, which the Paramount Global board’s special committee has recommended and submitted for Redstone’s review over the weekend. Redstone is Paramount non-executive chair and the company’s controlling shareholder through National Amusements Inc.

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“Given the ongoing speculation regarding potential M&A, we want to be able to speak to you with as much candor and transparency as possible,” the three executives wrote in a memo to employees. “By moving the date, our hope is to do just that.”

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Earlier in the day, at the company’s 2024 meeting of shareholders, the troika — proudly introduced by Redstone — talked about their strategic “vision” going forward and outlined the plans as if Paramount will not be sold.

At the June 4 meeting, they spoke at a high level about how they plan to cut upwards of half a billion in costs annually through layoffs and other cost-reduction measures, pursue a joint venture to gain streaming scale for Paramount+ and potentially sell some assets to shore up the balance sheet. “To be clear, $500 million in cost savings is just the beginning,” Cheeks said, adding that they expect to provide more details on the Q2 2024 earnings call in August.

Prior to the shareholder meeting’s Q&A portion, McCarthy alluded to the Skydance offer on the table without mentioning it by name but said “we cannot comment” on “speculation” about a potential M&A event.

Cheeks, McCarthy and Robbins were installed after Redstone booted former CEO Bob Bakish on April 29, reportedly over Bakish’s clash with Redstone over pursuing the deal with Skydance.

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