PREVIOUS: Philippe Dauman and Tom Dooley Announce 7% Reduction At Viacom
To: All Employees
Date: December 4, 2008
From: Brad GreyDear Colleagues:
By now, you all have seen the email from Philippe Dauman and Tom Dooley regarding Viacom’s cost-saving initiatives, which are designed to better position the Company in this difficult economic climate. Like all other divisions of the Company, Paramount too is adapting to the changing conditions and, as a result, we will reduce our global workforce.
These reductions are across the studio: accounting, business/legal affairs, corporate and government affairs, home entertainment, human resources, information technology, production, studio lot operations and Vantage. The vast majority of affected employees will be notified today in the United States and in the coming days internationally. We wish them the best, and thank them for their many contributions to Paramount.
Without question, the changes we implement today required us to make difficult choices. We take these steps after a careful analysis of our overall business and as part of a broader strategy to overcome the challenges of this unusual time in the market and to chart a successful course for the future.
As we look ahead, we are encouraged by the strength of our slate, the quality of our creative partners, the innovation we see on the lot every day and the projects we have in development. These assets, coupled with your talent and hard work, I believe will enable us to remain strong over the long term.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
By now, you all have seen the email from Philippe Dauman and Tom Dooley regarding Viacom’s cost-saving initiatives, which are designed to better position the Company in this difficult economic climate. Like all other divisions of the Company, Paramount too is adapting to the changing conditions and, as a result, we will reduce our global workforce.




BRAD GREY SHOULD BE THE ONE WHO GET’S FIRED-not innocent hardworkers at Viacom. When was the last time that Brad himself worked hard ?
Are the studios exploiting the economic crisis to save money, just like they did with force majeure during the WGA strike? After all, a report yesterday indicated that movie attendance is up because of the economy.
So, when will the inevitable revelation of the CEO’s bonus getting bigger because of money saved by the layoffs get leaked?
I figure it’ll get leaked tomorrow, just in time for Xmas.
Does this mean they’ll be naming a third president of production sometime this week?
or how about the 6 new creative marketing executives that were just hired under josh g
is 6 really necessary??????
Yea, get rid of Greenstein. He should have been the FIRST on the list.
Merry Christmas from Paramount Viacom!
MAybe you guys should raise a couple of billion dollars and start your own company. Then you can run it however you want.
And Weston is still employed?
Smart “tactic” to make it “look” like they are hurting. In the run up to the inevitable (in my opinion) actors’ authorization for a strike.
Notice these announcements are all coming out the same day. Makes it look to organized.
“the vast majority of affected employees will be notified today and in the coming days internationally”
How long must employees sit in fear ? Morale must be at an all time high.
Don’t be surprised if Sumner lays off Paramount since there’s some tire kicking going on.
Hmmm makes sense as to why Paramount hasn’t really been hiring a whole lot lately, not like they were during the summer.
So are the big wigs gonna take a pay cut?
“These reductions are across the studio: accounting, business/legal affairs, corporate and government affairs, home entertainment, human resources, information technology, production, studio lot operations and Vantage.”
Didn’t see “executive” in that list.
So true about Josh G., so true….
Sad……..
What a bunch of jackals!?! And right before the holidays. These morons should be ashamed of themselves. Look at these astronomical salaries these assholes are taking in. Companies become top heavy this way with no support on the bottom. Crush!
I bet all those jobs could’ve been saved with the millions of dollars they spent remodeling the offices in the admin building since Brad Grey took over, even for employees who got fired right after they moved into the ultra expensive renovated offices. It’s ridiculous.
My wife got laid off today. They had all the checks and documents ready to go. Obviously this had been in the works for some time now.
Paramount pounds millions of dollars down ratholes, pays zillions to consultants who fail at virtually everything they do, and then can’t come up with a few bucks to pay hard working employees who give the company the best years of their lives.
I agree that Brad Grey should be fired or at the very least, take a 50% pay-cut. One half of his one-year salary would have spared thousands of workers from getting canned. Its the mid-level people that do the bulk of the work and get things done and make Grey look good. He sucks.
No surprise… the peons get pink slips while the execs continue to rake in the big bucks. I guess that’s the way this recession is hitting the Hollywood economy: execs have to settle for a two martini lunch.
I have a cost-cutting suggestion for Paramount. Stop handing out a top-quality card-stock access pass with full color studio map to every single car that drives onto the lot. A black-and-white map on photocopy paper would do just fine.
RE: PC
LOL, I was just there yesterday and thought the same exact thing.
I mean shit I thought I was being invited to the Premiere of Star Trek or something
Way to waste money
Got a call from my husband saying he got laid off along with a few more of his colleagues today. What a way to crush the holidays. These are the people they should keep…The hard working people who actually give a s***!
How come when the presidents of the studios announce big lay-offs, they never also announce the cutting of their salaries?
Okay – time to set the record straight. Major executives were also laid off at Paramount, as well as long term employees, so it wasn’t just the middle management workers.
The timing was due more to the end of the fiscal year than anything else.
The exit packages were excellent.
Brad Grey is bring the company into the 21st Century. The Admin Bldg rehab? Oh it had only been about 28 yrs since it had been touched. Same for the Dining Room and Commissary — He is finally pumping money into the facility to create a workplace the creative community wants to work in. Get off his back.
C