Bob Bakish Assures Shareholders Paramount Has Content “Produced And Ready To Go” Amid WGA Strike; Defends Last Week’s Surprise Dividend Cut

deadline.com:

Taking the mic for the second time in a week, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish explained why the company slashed its dividend and talked streaming, advertising and weathering a WGA strike.

He told the (virtual) annual meeting of shareholders Monday that uncertain macroeconomic factors (interest rates, inflation) require prudent cash management and reducing the dividend by 80% will save the company $500 million a year — echoing what he told disgruntled financial analysts on last Thursday’s earnings call.

Par is highly exposed to advertising and a shaky market is colliding with peak investment in streaming this year. S&P Global in late March downgraded the company’s investment rating (to BBB- from BBB) “due to the weakening macroeconomic environment, higher peak losses in its direct-to-consumer (DTC) segment, and worsening trends for linear television.” Bakish promised an improving ad market plus reduced streaming investment will bring the company earnings and free cash flow in 2024.

The stock is off about 0.5% today at $16.77. It’s fell sharply last week. On the strike, the CEO reiterated his comments from last week, noting that the two sides are still far apart. “I’d start with the fact that writers are really an essential part of creating content that our audiences enjoy across all our platforms.