Paramount “Office of the CEO” Trio’s Memo to Staff: A “New Long-Term Plan” Is Being Finalized

In a memo to employees Monday, Chris McCarthy, George Cheeks and Brian Robbins, who are together running Paramount after the ouster of CEO Bob Bakish, thanked Bakish for his tenure at the company, while signaling a new strategy ahead. 

Paramount announced Bakish was out at the company Monday, just ahead of releasing first quarter earnings, with McCarthy, Cheeks and Robbins making up “Office of the CEO,” upon his ouster. The three executives will work with the Paramount board and CFO Naveen Chopra.

“We’d like to thank Shari and the Board for putting their trust in us. This new structure will allow us to continue leveraging the power of the entire company. Ours is a partnership built on respect, camaraderie and, most importantly, a shared love of Paramount Global, its employees and our world-class content,” the memo reads.

The company did not take any questions during the earnings call Monday, but McCarthy, Cheeks and Robbins briefly spoke, touching on the idea of “long-term plan,” but not yet specifying what that plan will entail. That idea was also mentioned in the memo.

“Going forward, we are finalizing a new long-term plan to best position this storied company to reach new and greater heights in our rapidly changing world. Alongside our many accomplished leaders and incredible teams, we’re excited to take these next steps together,” the memo reads. 

The memo also details a town hall that will take place in the coming days.

Bakish will officially step down on Tuesday, and has agreed to remain employed by the company through Oct. 31 as a “senior advisor.” His removal comes as Paramount is negotiating with a potential buyer group consisting of David Ellison’s Skydance, RedBird Capital and KKR. That plan would keep Paramount public but with Skydance and RedBird executives effectively running things and executing a new strategy.

Private equity firm Apollo has also held discussions with Sony Pictures about a possible joint bid in a deal that would take Paramount private in a merger with Sony and Apollo.

Full memo:

Paramount Team,

Following up on Shari’s note, we want to reach out to briefly address today’s announcement.

We’d like to thank Shari and the Board for putting their trust in us. This new structure will allow us to continue leveraging the power of the entire company. Ours is a partnership built on respect, camaraderie and, most importantly, a shared love of Paramount Global, its employees and our world-class content.

We also want to thank Bob for his leadership, many contributions and his support of our brands and businesses. We wish him well and much success in the days ahead.

Going forward, we are finalizing a new long-term plan to best position this storied company to reach new and greater heights in our rapidly changing world. Alongside our many accomplished leaders and incredible teams, we’re excited to take these next steps together. Today’s strong Q1 earnings is a direct reflection of your incredible hard work, and we ask that you continue to stay focused as we move into this next chapter.

We know this has been a challenging time, and the days ahead may be equally challenging as we adapt and collaborate in new ways together. The work we will need to do together is important and will set us up best for long term success. Please know we will move forward with purpose, focus and passion on behalf of all our important stakeholders – all of you, our teams, our shareholders, creative partners, advertisers, and distribution partners.

It’s a lot of news to digest and you probably have a lot of questions. We will be in touch over the days ahead with more updates including a town hall. Thank you for everything you do and for what we will do together in the future.

With much appreciation,

George, Chris and Brian