Paramount Global home of channels including Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, on Thursday wrote down the value of its cable-TV networks by nearly $6 billion, a day after rival Warner Bros. Discovery WBD revised the worth of its own cable business lower by $9.1 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reports Paramount is also cutting about 2,000 jobs, or 15% of its U.S. workforce, as part of an effort to realize $500 million in cost savings.
The reassessments by two of the country’s largest TV conglomerates come as cable-TV networks are contending with the acceleration of cord-cutting, declining ratings and a weak advertising market. Streaming platforms are taking audiences and subscribers away from what was once the engine powering the media industry.
During a call with investors to discuss the company’s results, Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra said the nearly $6 billion write-down of the cable-TV business was triggered by the decline of the traditional TV business, as well as Paramount’s recently announced deal to merge with Skydance Media.
Paramount, which also owns the namesake movie studio and the streaming services including Paramount+, said it incurred a loss of $5.41 billion in the second quarter, largely because of the goodwill impairment charge it booked for its cable-networks unit. Revenue fell 11% to $6.81 billion.
The company said its streaming business—which beyond Paramount+ also includes Pluto TV—reported its first quarterly profit. But Paramount+ lost 2.8 million subscribers in the quarter, which the company attributed to the exit from a hard bundle agreement in South Korea. The company reiterated its forecast that Paramount+ would be profitable domestically in 2025.
They have only themselves to blame for years (decades) of horrible customer support.
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