Paramount Global begins cutting 2K jobs ahead of Skydance merger

Paramount Global began a massive layoff on Tuesday that aims to hit 2,000 jobs as the struggling entertainment giant prepares to complete a merger with movie studio Skydance Media, the company said.

Paramount’s three co-CEOs circulated a memo to staff indicating that the job cuts would be made in three phases and continue throughout the rest of the year.

90% of the job cuts are expected to be completed by the end of next month, according to the memo obtained by The Post.

“The industry continues to evolve and Paramount is at an inflection point where changes must be made to strengthen our business,” co-CEOs Brian Robbins, Chris McCarthy and George Cheeks wrote in the memo.

“We know that parting ways with teammates whose contributions have been important to our success is incredibly difficult,” they added.

“In partnership with our HR leaders, we are committed to providing support to the employees transitioning from Paramount and to our teams who will need to adjust to these changes.”

Last week, Paramount announced it would lay off 15% of its workforce, or 2,000 jobs, and wrote down the value of its cable networks by nearly $6 billion.

Chris McCarthy, who heads Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, said the job cuts will be mostly in the company’s marketing and communications departments with some “right-sizing” in other areas, including functions legal, finance and other corporate functions.

Paramount executives said they anticipated the job cuts would save the company $500 million in annual costs.

Ahead of expected cost-cutting measures, longtime “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell announced she will leave the latter country’s broadcast after the 2024 presidential election.

The network announced a major overhaul of its nightly newscast format.

The conglomerate, whose holdings include movie studio Paramount, has been hampered by cord-cutting that has crippled some of its major assets, including the CBS network, as well as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.

The stock has lost almost a third of its value so far this year.

Shares of Paramount were flat on Tuesday.

Last month, Shari Redstone, daughter of the late media mogul Sumner Redstone, struck a deal to sell her controlling stake in Paramount Global to an investor group led by Skydance founder David Ellison for $8 billion.

A consortium that includes Skydance, RedBird Capital Partners and Ellison’s father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, will take control of Paramount Global in the first half of next year.

By postal wire