Chief exec and streaming chief Cindy Holland outline plans to ’significantly scale’ content
Paramount shares rocketed more than 36% on Wednesday as newly installed chief exec David Ellison outlined his plans for the Hollywood studio, including increased spending on content.
Ellison’s Skydance Media closed its $8bn merger with Paramount last week, creating a company under the moniker Paramount, a Skydance Corporation.
In what has been a busy first week in business, the company unveiled a $7.7bn deal for rights to the UFC fighting competition on Monday and yesterday held a press event in LA.
Ellison was flanked by his newly appointed senior exec team, including president Jeff Shell and streaming chief Cindy Holland, as they discussed plans for the new-look studio.
The company is being restructured into three divisions: studios, direct-to-consumer and TV media, in an effort to set up what Ellison has previously called a “leaner, faster, smarter, and more agile company”.
Shell yesterday confirmed there would be layoffs at Paramount, which employs around 18,000 people. The company is looking to make around $2bn in savings, but Shell said redundancies would be handled in one fell swoop and not dragged out every quarter.
He declined to elaborate on timings, but Ellison said the company would be focused on the “long term” in its decision making.
Streaming head Holland, who was a star at Netflix for years before consulting for Ellison at Skydance Media, has the job of growing the Paramount+ pipeline.
She said the Taylor Sheridan universe - referring to the creator of shows like Yellowstone, Tulsa King, 1923 and Landman - provided a solid foundation.
Ellison added that Paramount would “significantly scale” investment in content for its streamers and at the film studio, while Holland added that she required “more content” to “get the required engagement”.
She said her focus is “to entertain all audiences around the world” and deliver programming that ensures watching Paramount+ becomes a “daily habit” for subscribers. Holland added that producing films for streaming would not be a priority, however.
It was also again mooted that Paramount+ and Pluto TV may merge, following a similar suggestion at Paramount’s New York event last week.
But there is little chance that the company will sell off its linear networks, unlike competitors Warner Bros Discovery and NBCUniversal.
Paramount’s TV chief, George Cheeks, admitted it was a “super challenging business” but said his clutch of networks - ranging from MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central - would not be offloaded. Shell added that BET would also not be sold, following an attempt to divest the division under the former regime.
On the film side, Josh Greenstein, who recently left Sony and is co-head of the motion picture co-head with Dana Goldberg, said the goal is to release 15 movies a year as soon as possible, rising to 20. The studio’s recent annual output has fallen in the 11-14 range.
Despite the bullish comments and a $13 target set by investment firm Guggenheim, it was unclear what sent shares soaring late yesterday.
Some analysts suggested it could be another ‘meme stock’ surge in the vein of AMC Entertainment and GameStop, which saw ballooning shareprices several years ago fuelled by groups of individual online investors.
Paramount’s shares had stood at around $11.50 apiece this time last week before settling at $10.20 by Monday evening, prior to the company revealing its UFC rights deal.
That news pushed shares up around 7% to $11, before a flurry of activity yesterday sent the price soaring to $17, before settling at around $15.20 in after-hours trading.
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