The future doesn’t look good for Paramount Global — the Hollywood giant that owns CBS, Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, BET, Pluto TV, and many other media properties.
Paramount Global’s financial outlook took a hit Friday when S&P Global slapped it with a “credit watch negative” rating over concerns about the company’s cash flow. The report blamed “the ongoing deterioration of the linear television ecosystem and the shift toward a lower margin direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming model.”
Like other legacy Hollywood studios, Paramount is feeling the pain from tens of millions of Americans canceling their cable TV subscriptions. At the same time, the studio’s streaming services — including Paramount+ and Pluto TV — continue to lose money at an alarming rate.
The bad news comes amid ongoing acquisition rumors that have swirled around Paramount for many months. Among the possible suitors is David Ellison’s Skydance, which helped finance the latest Mission: Impossible movies and Top Gun: Maverick.
This month, Paramount began laying off around 800 employees, or 3 percent of its workforce, in an effort to cut costs.
The layoffs represent the latest Hollywood bloodbath following similar moves at other media giants, including Disney, NBCUniversal, Amazon MGM Studios, and Universal Music Group.
Hollywood is also feeling the squeeze from the advertising market, which is still in the doldrums due to poor consumer sentiment tied to President Joe Biden’s economic policies.
As Breitbart News reported, Warner Bros. Discovery recently reported its financial results for the latest quarter took a substantial hit due to weak TV advertising revenue.
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