CBS, BET and MTV execs among those affected by first round of redundancies
A roster of senior content execs are among the first casualties in Paramount Skydance’s jobs layoff, including senior CBS personnel Amanda Palley and Pamela Soper.
Paramount Skydance began the process of laying off more than 1,000 staff yesterday in a bid to “ensure long-term success” of the recently merged companies, according to chief exec David Ellison. The majority of the cuts affect US teams and had been widely trailed by Ellison and his team since Skydance’s takeover of Paramount.
Soper and Palley, both senior vice-presidents of current programming at CBS Entertainment, depart after more than 20 years and 11 years, respectively at the US giant. Soper looked after titles such as Mom, The Good Fight and The Neighborhood, while Palley’s credits include The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
BET execs Rose Catherine Pinkney, SVP of scripted programming and development, and Robi Reed, SVP for talent and casting and original programming, are also leaving after 10 and 20 years with the network.
MTV has also been impacted, with SVP and head of music and celebrity talent Wendy Plaut and vice-president of music programme development and documentaries for MTV/Paramount+ Amanda Culkowski both exiting.
Elsewhere, SVP of music events and production at country music network CMT Margaret Comeaux is out.
CBS News has had approximately 100 layoffs including the closure of the CBS News bureau in Johannesburg in South Africa, while the division has scaled back some of its units and cancelled selected programming.
Rob Brofman, executive vice-president, Paramount Kids & Family and Paramount Global Content Acquisition business & legal affairs is also departing.
Paramount+ executive vice-president, programming Jeff Grossman is leaving after nearly 15 years, having led content, planning, scheduling, acquisitions, merchandising and operations for the streamer since 2023.
Ramsay Naito, president of Paramount Animation and previous head of Nickelodeon Animation, has also stepped down. Her credits include Paw Patrol: The Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, among others.
Comms execs also hit
The cuts have also hit various senior Paramount comms and marketing execs with Jennifer Weingroff, SVP of communications at Paramount Global Content Distribution; Teri Fleming, EVP and head of marketing for Paramount Global Content Distribution and Amy Campbell, chief marketing officer, Paramount Media Networks & MTV Entertainment Studios all exiting.
CBS Media Ventures SVP of communications Leslie Ryan has been let go alongside Patricia Kollappallil, SVP of corporate communications at Paramount+.
Paramount veteran Andrea Ballas, CBS Entertainment’s vice-president of communications, is also to leave after nearly three decades at the company.
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