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Tragedy Awaits UFC Paramount Partnership as 1000+ Employees Face Bad News

Originally posted on EssentiallySports | By Sudeep Sinha | Last updated Oct 29, 2025 8:31 AM ET

In July, Paramount and Skydance Media completed an $8 billion merger to form Paramount Skydance Corp. The strategic move came amid restructuring and was followed by reports in August revealing that Jeff Shell, former NBCUniversal CEO and now President of Paramount Skydance, confirmed the company wants to implement swift cost cuts and layoffs ahead of the company’s Q3 2025 earnings report to be shared with investors in November.

During this time, the newly merged company signed a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal with the UFC, led by Dana White, to broadcast events on Paramount+ and CBS, marking one of the largest sports media rights agreements in recent years. Meanwhile, a report from The New York Post on August 22 indicated that Paramount Skydance was preparing for a major round of layoffs expected to save about $2 billion. Now, Variety has disclosed the exact number of employees set to be let go permanently.

1,000 employees to be sacked following $7.7 billion UFC deal, more to follow

According to Variety, Paramount Skydance is set to lay off approximately 1,000 employees this week, primarily in the United States, with most of the cuts expected to take place on Wednesday, October 29. However, this won’t mark the end of layoffs for the newly merged company. The report notes that this round will be followed by additional job reductions at a later stage.

The media giant, led by Chairman and CEO David Ellison, is carrying out a series of major staffing cuts projected to eliminate around 2,000 positions in the United States alone. Further layoffs are anticipated across the company’s international offices as part of a broader restructuring effort. As of now, Paramount Skydance has not released an official statement regarding the job cuts.

While the company hasn’t disclosed a specific reason for the downsizing, Paramount has been struggling to keep pace with competitors such as Netflix, Apple, and Amazon, all of which continue to dominate the streaming market. In response, Paramount Skydance has taken bold steps to revitalize its creative slate, including recruiting the Duffer Brothers, the creators of Stranger Things, from Netflix under a four-year deal to develop original films and series.

Still, this move is part of a much larger strategy aimed at reestablishing Paramount Skydance as a market leader in entertainment, one of which involves Warner Bros. Discovery.

Paramount doesn’t plan on dissecting Warner Bros. after the merger

Paramount Skydance has zero intentions of dismantling Warner Bros Discovery if their much-discussed merger goes through. According to Bloomberg, CEO David Ellison aims to preserve the core creative teams at both studios while focusing on streamlining marketing and distribution to enhance efficiency. The plan envisions integrating Warner Bros.’ HBO Max streaming service into Paramount+, creating a unified platform under the combined company.

Bloomberg reported that no decisions have been made regarding the sale of real estate assets, and there are currently no plans to sell or spin off cable networks. Paramount’s CBS News may collaborate with Warner Bros.’ CNN, while Ellison looks to harness AI and emerging technologies to ramp up production to 30 films annually. Regardless, last week’s reports revealed that Warner Bros.’ board rejected a nearly $60 billion offer from Paramount Skydance.

It seems the UFC is starting a new chapter with Paramount+, but meanwhile, many at Paramount Skydance are losing their jobs. While the $7.7 billion UFC deal isn’t directly to blame, it does show where the company’s priorities lie: investing big in sports while cutting costs elsewhere. What do you think of this move?

This article first appeared on EssentiallySports and was syndicated with permission.

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