Paramount Global the owners of Network Ten, whose reputation is currently being trashed in the Federal Court by former Project host Lisa Wilkinson, has announced the layoff of thousands of staff.
The business that recently raked in big money from the Super Bowl, and is up for sale, is laying off 800 people effective immediately, this represents around 3% of their workforce according to observers.
shares of Paramount fell as much as 4.8% to $12.77 in New York. They’ve declined 13% this year.
In Australia Network Ten is a struggling free to air TV operation, whose management appear to have openly supported Brittany Higgins who accused Bruce Lehrmann of raping her in Federal Parliament despite their being no evidence indicating that he had.
Lisa Wilkinson Right
Lisa Wilkinson has told a Federal Court Judge, how she begged Network Ten to reveal she had acted on legal advice given by Ten when she delivered her Logies speech.
Paramount Global is the parent of CBS and Nickelodeon, which hosted a record-breaking Super Bowl TV audience just two days ago.
Bloomberg claims that the cuts are a response to the continued losses.
Paramount+, the company’s own online TV service, is losing money and subscribers and in Australia have failed to deliver new seasons of popular shows such as NCIS.
In an internal memo to employees Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish said the company will inform impacted staffers of their job losses today. At this stage it’s not known whether Network Ten employees will be affected.
The moves were widely expected and were flagged by Bakish in a note to staff last month.
He has been restructuring the company, merging its Showtime premium cable network with its streaming operation and cutting back on efforts to launch independent streaming services overseas.
The company has also been selling assets such as its Simon & Schuster book publishing arm to reduce debt.
Shari Redstone Paramount’s Chair is currently weighing options that could include a sale of her family’s controlling stake in the business to independent film and TV producer David Ellison.
Media mogul Byron Allen has also made an offer for the entire company and has begun a dialog with the board.
