Paramount is laying off 15 percent of its US workforce, according to reporting by Deadline. This follows a lean second quarter earnings report in which total revenue fell short from an expected $7.21 billion to $6.81 billion. The layoffs will impact around 3,000 people.

“The industry continues to evolve, and Paramount is at an inflection point where changes must be made to strengthen our business,” company CEOs wrote in a staff memo.

Paramount representatives say these cuts will happen in three stages, with layoffs beginning today and 90 percent of all cuts being completed by the end of September. The layoffs will primarily impact employees involved in marketing and communications, though the company’s legal and finance arms will also face cuts.

Paramount already laid off three percent of its workforce back in February, and this was after a three percent increase in revenue growth that was largely credited to its streaming and film businesses. So, a three percent increase of revenue translated to a three percent reduction of Paramount’s workforce and missing revenue expectations by around four percent is leading to layoffs accounting for 15 percent of company employees. Workers can’t catch a break.

All of these layoffs are likely being used to clear the runway, so to speak, for the forthcoming merger with Skydance. The merger was announced back in June and will soon head to the regulatory review process. Paramount has also been raising prices for its streaming service and, of course, deleting whole libraries of content for reasons that make a lot of sense to corporate executives but not so much to regular people.

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