Q1 and Done: Bakish Officially Exits CBS Parent

Everybody’s been talking about it since Friday. Now, it is official.

Bob Bakish, President/CEO of Paramount Global, is stepping down from his role as CEO and from the Board of Directors.

It’s a move that is largely tied to a desire by David Ellison‘s 28-year-old Skydance to merge with Paramount Global — a deal engineered by its soon-to-be majority shareholder, Shari Redstone-led National Amusements, Inc. Ellison is widely known as the co-founder of Silicon Valley giant Oracle. 

Variety first reported Bakish’s exit as a fait accompli on Saturday, one day after business publications fueled the barroom chatter mirroring a plot line from the HBO series Succession. The rumors were catapulted into the headlines on Sunday morning upon reports that a joint CBS/Politico affair ahead of the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner was permeated with “confusion and anxiety” among Paramount staffers unsure of what was to come following what most expected to be Bakish’s announced departure on Monday afternoon.

A TRIO OF LEADERS … FOR NOW

To lead and oversee the company moving forward, Paramount Global has established an Office of the CEO.

This will see CBS President/CEO George Cheeks, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks President/CEO Chris McCarthy, and Paramount Pictures/ Nickelodeon President/CEO Brian Robbins work together alongside CFO Naveen Chopra and the Paramount Global Board of Directors.

According to the company, the Office of the CEO is working with the Board of Directors to develop “a comprehensive, long-range plan to accelerate growth and develop popular content, materially streamline operations, strengthen the balance sheet, and continue to optimize the streaming strategy.”

Furthermore, the Paramount board says it has “great confidence in the leaders comprising the Office of the CEO, all of whom are senior creative executives and business leaders with a track record of success running meaningful businesses within Paramount Global.”

Shari Redstone, who serves as Chair of the Board at Paramount Global, says that National Amusements Inc., believes “strongly in the future value creation potential of the company,” she has “tremendous confidence” in the three who will serve in the Office of the CEO. “They have both the ability to develop and execute on a new strategic plan and to work together as true partners,” she said. “I am extremely excited for what their combined leadership means for Paramount Global and for the opportunities that lie ahead.”

Redstone addressed Bakish’s departure by commenting, “The Board and I thank Bob for his many contributions over his long career, including in the formation of the combined company as well as his successful efforts to rebuild the great culture Paramount has long been known for. We wish him all the best.”

There was no mention of Ellison or Skydance from either NAI or Paramount Global with its confirmation of Bakish’s exit. The Paramount Global’s Q1 2024 earnings call also did not mention Ellison or Skydance, with the focus on how the new leadership believes it has the best and strongest content in the marketplace.

FROM VIMN LEADER TO PARAMOUNT HEAD

Bakish first became familiar to RBR+TVBR readers in 2012, when he served as Viacom International Media Networks President/CEO, a role he earned in 2007. By November 2016, he had become Viacom’s third interim CEO in just three months, bringing a period of stability to the company before taking the role permanently in December 2016. At that time, Viacom discontinued the exploration of a recombination of the media company with CBS Corp.

By January 2018, the Redstone-led NAI changed its tune, as Shari Redstone amped up reunification talks. This set the stage for a leadership battle between Bakish and then-CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves. Moonves in February 2017 had made it clear that CBS and Viacom were better suited as separate companies; he vociferously fought Redstone against the merger, eventually losing his role following an August 2018 report in the New Yorker that exposed improper behavior by Moonves and brought sexual misconduct allegations to the forefront. This paved the road for Bakish to lead what is now Paramount Global.

Now, short of his fifth anniversary in the role, Ellison’s group appears poised to take control of an entity that has seen significant changes in how it presents its local newscasts in an environment where digital media growth must not cut the flow of ad dollars to its legacy broadcast and cable channels and networks.

On word of the pending departure of Bakish, Paramount Global shares were up by nearly 6% in pre-market trading on Monday, to $12.58, before ending Monday’s sessions up by 2.9% to $12.25. Aside from mid-to-late March 2020, when COVID-19 pandemic fears torpedoed global financial markets, PARA, which trades on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect exchange, has been trading at five-year lows since the close of Q1.

HIT OR MISS IN BAKISH’S LAST QUARTER?

Some 22 analysts polled by Yahoo! Finance offered their earnings per share estimates for the first quarter. The consensus EPS estimate is $0.36, up from $0.09 one year ago. Twenty-three analysts offered an earnings estimate, and the consensus is $7.73 billion.

On an adjusted basis, the diluted EPS from continuing operations increased to $0.62, from $0.09.

Unfortunately, the revenue came in at $7.685 billion, rising from $7.265 billion.

The EPS loss narrowed to -$0.87 from -$1.74 on a GAAP basis.

Adjusted OIBDA, a non-GAAP measure, improved to $987 million from $548 million.