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With Paramount Assets In Play, There’s Chatter About A Sale Of Its Hollywood Lot

Jill Goldsmith and Anthony D'Alessandro
·2 min read

Paramount Global is pushing ahead with asset sales and bankers are in the house as it sets out to streamline and raise cash to pay down debt. Its three co-CEOs confirmed as much Tuesday at a company town hall with staff.

Lots of things are being explored. Deadline hears there’s early chatter about selling the Paramount lot and leasing it back, with an option to buy it again down the road.

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Paramount is not in the real estate business, and a sale could bring in $2 billion. As ViacomCBS, it sold the historic CBS building in NYC known as Black Rock for $760 million to real estate investment firm Harbor Group International in 2021. Later the same year, it sold the iconic CBS Studio Center to Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management for $1.85 billion.

Jeffrey Katzenberg pulled off a similar deal in 2015 when DreamWorks Animation was also a cash-strapped, publicly traded company, selling its lot in Glendale for $185 million to the investment arm of Sun Trust Banks.

The Paramount lot is an historic Hollywood gem and industry insiders were upset at the idea of private equity or other financial buyers snapping it up — a reason many backed the Skydance bid for Paramount. David Ellison badly wanted the lot. Apollo, which partnered with Sony on a possible deal, was interested in the acquisition as a real estate play.

Deadline hears bankers are also assessing a group of non CBS-affiliated television stations that are not core to the broadcast business. Paramount owns 13 TV stations not affiliated with CBS.

Other assets on the table include BET, which Paramount tried unloading a few times already.

There’s no decision yet on free, ad-supported streamer Pluto TV.

A partner for Paramount+ may be in the cards. One option brought up at today’s Town Hall is a long-term relationship with a leading tech platform. As for other potential partners, Peacock has been mentioned, and David Zaslav, CEO of Max parent Warner Bros Discovery, is said to be keen.

Staffers at today’s town hall listened anxiously for hints at layoffs, which the CEOs confirmed are coming amid $500 million in cost cuts. Deadline hears they haven’t reached a definitive number in terms of headcount reduction, but are looking at extraneous corporate infrastructure layers in communication, finance and legal, and offshore cable channel offices.

None of the layoffs will be directed at those in content, which remains king for the company.

RELATED: What’s Next For Paramount After Skydance Merger Talks Fail

Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, which control Paramount, has a debt payment due next year and as per what was expressed in the town hall, will continue to explore M&A. However, it’s unlikely anything will happen before the presidential election in November, myriad sources tell us.

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