Executives said integration would involve “difficult decisions” affecting employees. They did not specify how many jobs could be eliminated.
Hours after Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery completed their merger, executives at the combined company warned staff that layoffs could follow. Variety, which obtained the memo, reported the warning.
David Ellison, chairman and CEO, and Ynon Kreiz, co-CEO, wrote that combining the companies would bring change, including difficult decisions affecting the workforce. They said the process would be handled thoughtfully and respectfully. The memo gave no timetable or estimate of potential job cuts.
The document, titled “Day 1,” describes the new Skydance’s goal as building a next-generation media and entertainment company powered by creativity and technology. The executives said the merger was intended to unite the companies’ talent, resources and capabilities into a stronger competitor, rather than simply add production capacity, brands or intellectual property.
Skydance now brings together assets from Paramount and Warner Bros., including HBO, CBS, Nickelodeon, Showtime, Comedy Central, DC Studios and Food Network. Before the merger, Paramount executives had said they were targeting more than $6 billion in annualized cost savings over three years.