Paramount Global shed about a quarter of its market value this week after reporting a huge first quarter loss, which it is attempting to reverse with drastic actions to blunt the hemorrhaging and restore investor confidence: slashing the dividend by 80 percent; selling off BET, as had already been announced; restarting talks to offload Simon & Schuster again; “significant” cost saving measures, etcetera etcetera, as the company tries to pivot to the streaming age. C.E.O. Bob Bakish said this year will represent peak losses for Paramount—the company took a one time impairment charge of $1.67 billion for combining its two streamers, Paramount+ and Showtime—but the stock keeps selling off.
Questions abound: Is this healthy retrenchment? A prelude to the chop shop? Is Aryeh on speed dial? But here’s the one that most fascinates me: What does Warren Buffet make of all this?
