NEW YORK (AP) — Paramount Global on Monday announced that Bob Bakish is stepping down as CEO of the film, television and multimedia company.
Bakish will be replaced by a troika of executives who will form a new “Office of the CEO.” The group includes George Cheeks, the CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy, CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins, the CEO of Paramount Pictures.
The company said Cheeks, McCarthy and Robbins will work closely with Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra and the board of directors. Among the issues the new CEO trio must face are a reported $11 billion offer from private-equity firm Apollo Global to acquire the studio, which produces films and television programs and runs the streaming service Paramount+.
There have also been reports of a possible merger with Skydance, David Ellison’s media company that has helped produce such Paramount releases as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.”
Co-CEOs are rare but far from unknown; roughly 100 public companies such as Salesforce, Netflix, Chipotle Mexican Grill, SAP and Oracle have all had co-CEOs for various periods of time over the past quarter century. A 2022 study published in the Harvard Business Review found that among 87 co-CEO led companies, dual leadership coincided with better-than-average stock performance. Roughly 60% of these companies outperformed.
CEO troikas, however, are far rarer, and their organizational issues can be much more complex. For instance, instead of being forced to compromise the way co-CEOs often are, two members of a troika can just outvote a third.
Paramount also released earnings for the quarter ended March 31 on Monday, reporting a net loss attributable to Paramount of $554 million, or 87 cents per share, a reduction from a $1.1 billion net loss, or $1.74 per share, in the same year-earlier period. The company reported revenue of $7.66 billion, a 5.8% increase from $7.27 billion a year earlier.
The earnings in the latest quarter, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 62 cents per share. That topped expectations of 35 cents a share, according to a FactSet poll.
In what may have been a sly nod to the challenge it faces, Paramount closed out the Monday conference call in which it described the CEO changes and earnings with the theme to “Mission: Impossible.”
FILE - Paramount CEO Bob Bakish speaks as he attends an interview during the Barron's Roundtable at the Fox Business Network, Aug. 5, 2022, in New York. Paramount Global on Monday, April 29, 2024, announced that Bakish is stepping down as CEO of the film, television and multimedia company. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2024--
Cutting Edge Firewood, an Atlanta-based firewood company that features ultra-premium firewood and cooking wood, today debuts a new smokeless thermoelectric firepit to elevate outdoor gatherings. The new patented thermoelectric firepit technology creates a beautiful fire that radiates warmth further than traditional smokeless firepits.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240516168967/en/
The Cutting Edge Firewood firepit draws cool air in, converts it into hot air which then creates a flow of energy that powers fans to send warm air out into a 360-degree radius 6 to 8 feet from the firepit.
“As founder of a firewood company, I have spent thousands of nights around firepits of every type,” said Leroy Hite, Founder and CEO of Cutting Edge Firewood. “I wanted to design a deluxe firepit that is an exceptional heat source and that burns our wood with a beautiful, smokeless fire.”
Perfect for outdoor gatherings, the upscale Cutting Edge Firewood firepit features a triple-wall design of premium stainless steel and uses wood as its fuel source. It measures 22” tall, 22” external diameter, and 18” internal pit diameter. The firepit weighs 100 lbs. Additional features include legs and an insulated bottom so consumers can place the firepit safely on wood, stone, tile and concrete surfaces. The firepit also includes a heavy-duty, stainless-steel lid that can help extinguish the last bit of a waning fire, and an ash drawer for easy clean up after use.
“Most smokeless firepits burn well, but the heat doesn’t radiate much beyond the pit itself,” continued Hite. “We created this exclusive design and tested it for over a year so our new thermoelectric firepit creates heat well beyond the pit and your feet stay warm!”
The firepit retails for $1,500 with pre-orders for fall delivery available now. The first 300 orders will receive a complimentary box of Cutting Edge Firewood.
About Cutting Edge
Cutting Edge Firewood was created to provide the best firewood and cooking wood available. The wide variety of firewood, cooking wood and pizza cut wood from Cutting Edge Firewood undergoes a special drying process to ensure it is free from unwanted pests, mold or fungus and provides an unmatched clean and bright burn with pleasant aroma. Cutting Edge Firewood uses only the best hardwoods for firewood and cooking, including oak, hickory, cherry, apple, pecan, and maple. More information about the firepit and wood varieties available at www.cuttingedgefirewood.com.
The new smokeless firepit from Cutting Edge Firewood features triple-wall premium stainless-steel construction and patented thermoelectric design to radiate heat and provide a beautiful fire. (Photo: Business Wire)
