Paramount to Slash Jobs in “One Painful Move,” Jeff Shell Says as Company Prepares For Big Layoffs

Paramount is preparing for big layoffs, but the company says it wants to get it done all at once rather than slowly over time. Paramount president Jeff Shell and CEO David Ellison spoke to the press in Los Angeles this week about the upcoming cuts, a week after Ellison officially took over the company from Shari Redstone in an $8.4 billion deal, according to sources including the press briefing.

Shell made it clear that the layoffs will be painful but necessary. “We do not want to be a company that has layoffs every quarter,” he said. “It’s always hard, but we don’t want to be a company that every quarter is laying people off.” He added, “So, it is important for us to get done what we’re doing in one big thing and then be done with it.”

The announcement comes as Paramount is trying to save around $2 billion, after spending more than $9 billion recently on deals with UFC and the creators of South Park. Shell was joined at the press event by Ellison, Paramount+ leader Cindy Holland, TV Media chief George Cheeks, film executives Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, COO Andy Gordon, and board member Gerry Cardinale.

Ellison also commented on the scale of the changes. “In terms of specifics and timelines, we’re in day 7, and I hope you can respect when we get there, we’re going to talk to team members first before talking to anybody else,” he said. He hinted that the cuts might even exceed the $2 billion target, but he did not give exact numbers.

During a town hall with about 18,000 Paramount and Skydance employees, Ellison promised transparency. “We will be straightforward and honest over the cuts and changes as they are determined,” he said. The company emphasized that the layoffs are part of a larger plan to restructure and make the company more efficient under the new leadership.

Both Ellison and Shell stressed that the new team does not believe in slowly cutting costs to try to force growth. This is a departure from previous management strategies at Paramount, which often relied on smaller, repeated layoffs over time.

The message from the leadership is clear: the changes will be difficult, but they hope to get them over with quickly so the company can move forward without constant uncertainty for employees.

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