Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Paramount+
Paramount Global is expected to announce as early as Monday morning that Bob Bakish is stepping down as CEO amid discussions with Skydance and ahead of the company’s quarterly earnings release this afternoon.
News that Bakish might leave the party began circulating Friday. Paramount’s majority shareholder and executive chairwoman Shari Redstone, while once clearly on the same page with the CEO, is reportedly unhappy with some of his more recent strategic decisions, including a decision not to part ways of Showtime and an aborted sales process for BET. Deadline has also learned that Bakish is not a fan of a deal with David Ellison’s Skydance, as opposed to Redstone. Both companies are nearing the end of a month-long exclusive trading period.
Paramount will report its first quarter results after the market closes on Monday. Bakish should not be on the call.
It’s unclear how the company would replace it. Reports suggest the possibility of creating a CEO office led by division heads including Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy. Robbins is Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures & Nickelodeon and Chief Content Officer, Movies and Kids & Family, Paramount+; Cheeks is Chairman and CEO of CBS and Chief Content Officer, News and Sports, Paramount+; Mcarthy is president of entertainment and youth brands for Domestic Media Networks.
Bakish has been at the company for decades and was named CEO of the newly merged ViacomCBS in 2019, a deal pushed by Shari Redstone. He was previously CEO of Viacom. The company changed its name to Paramount Global in 2022.
The company recently announced that four directors would step down from the board at the June annual meeting.
The near-constant drama around Paramount began last fall, as the company began seriously considering a sale with rolling losses and straight-line declines weighing on its finances. Skydance, backed by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital, put together the outline of a deal and the parties began exclusive negotiations on April 3. Sony has partnered with Apollo and is also interested in making an offer. The partners are waiting in the wings in case the Skydance deal falls through.
The deal envisaged with Skydance is complex. This involves first acquiring Shari Redstone’s family holding company, NAI, which controls Paramount Global, then merging it with Skydance.
News Source : deadline.com
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