Report: Bob Bakish May Be A Short-Timer At Paramount Global

Paramount Global is reportedly considering removing longtime CEO Bob Bakish and replacing him with a group of executives as the entertainment giant inches closer to a deal with Skydance Media.

The Wall Street Journal reports, Bakish, who has been privately critical of the company’s talks to merge with Skydance, would be replaced on an interim basis with an “Office of the CEO,” comprised of the company’s division heads. 

Bob Bakish

No decision has been made about Bakish’s future, however, and he may remain in place, but the speculation comes at a pivotal time for the conglomerate, which is controlled by media heiress Shari Redstone through her family business National Amusements. Paramount — home to Showtime, CBS, MTV, movie studio Paramount Pictures, and the streaming service Paramount+ — has been hammering out details for a merger with Skydance that it hopes to finalize next month. 

But Redstone and some of the board members have “soured” on Bakish, questioning whether the CEO pursued strategic opportunities for the company “aggressively enough,” including a potential sale of the Showtime channel. 

Spokespeople for the Paramount Global special committee, Paramount Global, and Skydance declined to comment. Bakish, who had been viewed as Redstone’s right hand, was named CEO of Viacom in 2016. He was elevated to the top job after the daughter of the late Sumner Redstone merged the company with CBS in 2019. 

Shari Redstone

Bakish’s critics pointed to Paramount’s eroding TV business, loss-making streaming business, and debt-laden balance sheet. Redstone has blamed Bakish for the company’s overall predicament and what she views as missed chances to strike sound deals. 

People close to Redstone said the mogul was open to selling premium channel Showtime, home to “Billions,” “Dexter,” and “Yellowjackets,” but that Bakish turned down bids — even rejecting a $3 billion offer from former Showtime CEO David Nevins last year. 

Instead, Bakish folded Showtime and its content into Paramount+. Bakish supporters beg to differ, saying that the exec put the company on the map with streaming via its Paramount+ launch, acquisition of Pluto TV (an ad-supported TV streaming service), as well as maintaining CBS’s strong industry position, among other things. 

Paramount’s market value has plunged to $8.4 billion from $25.3 billion in 2019. Removing Bakish could add more chaos to an already turbulent time for Paramount as it explores the deal to merge with Skydance, run by David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.