Bob Bakish: Celebs Rumors

Bob Bakish, CEO of Paramount Global, took the floor for the first time publicly since the renamed company’s recent and not well-received Investor Day, touting streaming prospects but acknowledging, “We are going to have to prove that to you over time” – referring to Wall Street.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterParamount Global CEO Bob Bakish says Disney Plus’ decision to launch a cheaper, ad-supported version later this year is “validation of the strategy,” which Paramount (recently rebranded from ViacomCBS) itself uses for a tier of its streaming service Paramount Plus.“They’re 100% right,” Bakish said during Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference Tuesday, when asked about Disney’s announcement last week to roll out an ad-supported subscription plan for Disney Plus, to launch first in the U.S. in late 2022.

As the surge of Covid infections in December and January due to the Omicron variant continues to recede, media and entertainment companies are starting to update their return-to-office plans.

Was it the Bumblebee bit?

Afternoon subscribers. Max Goldbart here with your weekly dose of International Insider news and analysis and it’s been as busy as ever over the past seven days. Scroll down for more.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorShares of Paramount, the new corporate name of ViacomCBS, took a dive after the media conglomerate told Wall Street that it was more aggressively equipping itself for battle in the streaming wars.The stock was down more than 15% in premarket trading Wednesday, coming a day after Paramount’s 2022 investor day presentation that detailed revised financial forecasts including a bigger capital outlay for its streaming strategy, led by Paramount Plus.Investors were apparently unnerved about the heavier investment Paramount plans to make in the streaming biz — it plans to boost spending on streaming content to $6 billion by 2024, versus $4 billion previously — and the resulting hit to profitability. Bank of America Securities analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich downgraded her rating on the stock, from “buy” to “neutral,” and cut her 12-month price target on the stock from $52 to $39 per share.SEE ALSO: As ViacomCBS Becomes Paramount, an Energized Company Solidifies Its Streaming Playbook“We commend management for taking a bold approach, but near-term headwinds will drive Y/Y declines in CY22 and CY23 OIBDA [operating income before depreciation and amortization] and pressure already depressed FCF [free cash flow] levels,” Reif Ehrlich wrote in a note to clients.In reporting Q4 2021 results, the company said Paramount Plus netted 7.3 million new subscribers to stand at 32.8 million at year end.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorIn their last outings as leaders of ViacomCBS, the executive team led by Shari Redstone and Bob Bakish finally started to sound like they have a solid plan to compete in streaming.On the day ViacomCBS unveiled its corporate rebrand to Paramount, starting as of Feb. 16, the company put on a nearly three-hour virtual presentation for investors that demonstrated how much its operations have been turned inside out to focus on streaming growth opportunities.

The CFO of ViacomCBS, soon to be known as Paramount, said Tuesday that the company is looking hard for “efficiencies” at its traditional businesses to divert as much cash it can to streaming, where investment will hit an estimated $6 billion in 2024.

ViacomCBS unveiled a slew of new news Tuesday during an investor day presentation that followed the release of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings.

Yellowstone is the crown jewel in the newly rebrand Paramount Global but the Kevin Costner-led series lives on streaming in the U.S. with rival Peacock.

ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said the company now anticipates 100 million streaming subscribers in 2024 – well above a previous forecast of 65M-75M, after record ads in the fourth quarter and amid a rebranding of the company to Paramount – (officially ‘Paramount Global’ but the company prefers to be called just ‘Paramount’.)

ViacomCBS President Bob Bakish announced today during the conglom’s investor day that all new Paramount theatrical releases will head straight to Paramount+ after their run in cinemas starting in 2024.

ViacomCBS is rebranding to become Paramount Global, effective Feb. 16, the latest giant pivot in a rapidly transforming media and entertainment landscape. It’s the name of the company’s storied studio and its centerpiece streaming network Paramount+, which launched in March of 2021.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorViacomCBS will change its corporate name to Paramount as of Feb. 16, calling the move an effort to adopt “an iconic global name” to reflect the conglomerate’s increasingly worldwide focus.The company’s shares will trade on the NASDAQ index under the ticker symbol PARA (for Class B common shares), PARAA (for Class A common), and PARAP (for Class A preferred).The moniker makeover was announced Tuesday by ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone and president-CEO Bob Bakish in a memo to staffers.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaViacomCBS chief Bob Bakish was forced to apologize to staff on Wednesday after statements he made during a company-wide town hall about return-to-work plans were seen as insensitive by some employees.Bakish was hosting one of his “Bob Live” discussions with Chief Technology Officer Phil Wiser and Chief People Officer Nancy Phillips when he began musing that the move back into a combination of remote work and a return to offices was “the greatest social experiment” of recent history. Bakish also was discussing the past two years of working during the COVID-19 pandemic, one that has seen many employees transition to working from their homes.

ViacomCBS’s Bob Bakish said he and chair Shari Redstone both bought stock last month in a show of faith that the shares are undervalued and investors to will start acknowledge that, with a few prods.

Scott M. Mills has been promoted to chief executive officer of Black Entertainment Television (BET Networks).

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeScott Mills had a plan for BET. Four years after he took over as president of the network, the proof is in the output: Under Mills’ watch, BET persuaded superstar producer Tyler Perry to an overall deal at BET, launched the growing streamer BET Plus, and recently created a new production template for BET Studios, luring in more high-profile producers including Kenya Barris.Now, Variety can exclusively report that Mills has been promoted to serve as CEO of BET.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorParamount Plus is playing well with pint-size viewers as “Paw Patrol: The Movie” and other kids and family content was the biggest driver of growth and engagement in third quarter for ViacomCBS’ streaming platform.Bob Bakish, ViacomCBS president-CEO, talked up the higher levels of activity on Paramount Plus as well as the long-term vision for Paramount Pictures and ViacomCBS’ increasing investment in Spanish-language TV production on Thursday morning during the company’s quarterly earnings call.

Maybe Jeremy Zimmer and Ari Emanuel need to take it to the octagon

ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish was out beating the Wall Street drum for new Paramount boss Brian Robbins, who, he told investors, will lead “the film studio of the future.”

ViacomCBS has become the first major Hollywood film and television conglom to set a January return date for all employees to return to the office. ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish made the announcement in a company memo Friday, saying that the “Green  phase” of the return-to-office process “will now launch  no sooner than January 10, 2022.” Everyone entering ViacomCBS’  offices in that phase will have to be fully vaccinated.

Claudia Eller Co-Editor-in-ChiefThe changing of the legacy guard in Hollywood continues in a business focused on prioritizing content for streaming customers.Last week, we learned that seasoned studio chief Jim Gianopulos, who for decades has been shepherding big, successful theatrical movies, was being pushed out after four years as chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures in favor of a digital-leaning leader known for purveying lower-cost content aimed at younger consumers.While the abrupt move shocked many inside and outside Paramount — rumor had it that at some point production chief Emma Watts might succeed Gianopulos — it was unsurprising to learn whom his ViacomCBS bosses Bob Bakish and Shari Redstone selected to replace him.

ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish acknowledged the Covid operating environment for Paramount Pictures is “a bit fluid” but said the studio is keen to preserve a theatrical window.

EXCLUSIVE: Pluto TV, which was founded in 2014, has become a $1 billion-a-year business a year ahead of schedule.

ViacomCBS employees won’t be returning to their offices until October 18 “at the very earliest,” CEO Bob Bakish said in a memo to staff today (read it below). He also said the company will continue to require employees currently working at U.S. locations “to be fully vaccinated” and wear masks.

Pat Saperstein Deputy EditorViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish sent employees a memo Wednesday detailing the company’s concerns over the Delta variant of COVID-19 and specifying that most workers would not return to the office until Oct. 18 “at the very earliest.”Bakish specified that employees returning to ViacomCBS prior to Oct.

Comcast and ViacomCBS are exploring partnerships in international streaming — a more targeted agreement than a full-out merger, speculation of which has dogged both companies for months.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish in early June predicted this year’s upfront ad-sales session would be “off the hook” for his company, and, in general, the media industry. And it was — but perhaps not in the way many executives would like.Big entertainment conglomerates ranging from WarnerMedia to NBCUniversal have called this year’s haggle with Madison Avenue “historic” and “extremely strong,” because TV networks have managed to secure record increases in ad rates.

ViacomCBS has promoted two top executives in a move to streamline its U.S. and international leadership structure, the company announced Thursday.MTV Entertainment Group’s Chris McCarthy and Nickelodeon’s Brian Robbins have both been upped to President and CEO of their respective groups and have added oversight of their respective brand’s international operations.

ViacomCBS has wrapped its upfront negotiations seeing “historic demand” that was solid across the board and benefitted from the conglom’s broad portfolio strategy.

ViacomCBS on Wednesday unveiled its content leadership structure for its global streaming services. The moves include appointing Tanya Giles, currently GM of MTV Entertainment Group, as “a centralized programming head” to oversee content strategy for Paramount+ and Pluto TV globally. The changes will take immediate effect.

Paramount+ is the latest streamer to plant a flag on “one-movie-a-week” land as parent ViacomCBS boosts content spending in the wake of a big capital raise earlier this year.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorNickelodeon has emerged as one of the most popular content hubs on Paramount Plus, offering ViacomCBS a flashback to the good old days when it dominated the linear cable kids TV business.The stickiness of Nickelodeon content is a sign that the strategy of expanding the CBS All Access streamer with the Paramount Plus relaunch on March 4 was the right approach, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish told Wall Street analysts Thursday during the company’s first quarter earnings call.“The real news is it’s now broader,” Bakish said of the subscriber base for Paramount Plus in the 10 weeks since the relaunch.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Infinite,” a sci-fi thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Antoine Fuqua, will exclusively debut on Paramount Plus in the U.S.The move was announced by ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish on the company’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday and comes as Paramount Plus is seeking to bolster its lineup of original content. The service, which was rebranded and relaunched in March after previously being known as CBS All Access, faces stiff competition in the streaming space, with rivals such as Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO Max all fighting for subscribers.Movies have become an important part of what Paramount Plus has been selling customers.

The Paramount Pictures sci-fi thriller “Infinite,” starring Mark Wahlberg and previously announced for a Memorial Day weekend theatrical release, will skip theaters to debut exclusively on the streaming service Paramount+. The news that “Infinite,” directed by Antoine Fuqua, was announced by ViacomCBS chief Bob Bakish as part of a ViacomCBS’ earnings call Thursday along with additional information on the expansion of the film Paramount film catalog on Paramount+ that will be rolling onto Paramount+ starting in June.