Paramount Global is laying off about 3% of its employees, the media company announced Tuesday, according to multiple news outlets, just days after CBS earned record viewership from Super Bowl LVIII.
Paramount’s CEO hinted last month layoffs were on the horizon.
Some 800 people will be notified Tuesday that they are being laid off, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish said in an internal memo obtained by multiple outlets Tuesday.
As of the end of 2022, Paramount had 24,500 full-time and part-time employees.
In the memo, Bakish told employees the layoffs will “help enable us to build on our momentum and execute our strategic vision for the year ahead.”
Paramount did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
The announcement comes as one of Paramount’s subsidiaries, CBS, had a record-breaking weekend. Sunday marked the most-watched Super Bowl ever as 123.4 million people tuned in to see the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49er’s. On top of record-breaking viewership, CBS sold Super Bowl ads for a record-breaking average price of $7 million for every 30-seconds, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Besides CBS, Paramount Global also owns Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, Pluto TV and a handful of cable networks including BET, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. While it’s unclear exactly what parts of Paramount’s enterprise will be affected by the layoffs, the company warned employees in January the cuts were coming as they need to “operate as a leaner company and spend less,” Bakish told employees, according to an internal memo obtained by Deadline.
Paramount releases Q4 earnings on Feb. 28.
Super Bowl Earns Record 123 Million Viewers—Most-Watched TV Event Since Apollo 11 (Forbes)