many in Hollywood fear Warner Bros. Finding’s sale will trigger steep job losses — at a time when teh industry already has been impacted by dramatic downsizing and the decline in productions from Los Angeles.
David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is seeking to address these concerns by detailing its plans to save $6 billion, including job cuts, should Paramount succeed in its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
Leaders of the combined company would focus on savings by streamlining “duplicative operations across all aspects of the business — specifically back office,finance,corporate,legal,technology,infrastructure and real estate,” Paramount said in documents filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Paramount faces a challenging path to acquire the studio behind Batman,Harry Potter,Scooby-Doo and “The Big Bang Theory.” The proposed $108.4-billion deal would include acquiring HBO, HBO Max, CNN, TBS, Food Network and other Warner cable channels.
Warner’s board prefers Netflix’s proposed $82.7-billion deal and has repeatedly rejected the Ellison family’s proposals. This prompted Paramount to turn hostile last month and make its case directly to Warner investors on its website and in regulatory filings.
Shareholders may ultimately decide the outcome.
Paramount previously disclosed that it would target $6 billion in synergies. The firm has stressed the proposed merger would strengthen Hollywood — not weaken it. However, Paramount recently acknowledged it would reduce program spending by about 10% if it successfully combines Paramount and Warner bros.
Paramount said the cuts would come from areas outside of film and television studio operations.
A film enthusiast and longtime producer, David Ellison has long expressed a desire to expand the combined Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. slate to more than 30 movies a year. His goal is to maintain Paramount pictures and Warner Bros. as independent studios.
This year, Warner Bros. plans to release 17 films. Paramount has said it wants to nearly double its output to 15 movies,which would bring the total to
