Los Angeles, California – Paramount Global is undergoing leadership changes as four board members announced their departure in the company’s recent proxy filing. Dawn Ostroff, Nicole Seligman, Frederick Terrell, and Rob Klieger will step down from the board as talks with Skydance Media, led by David Ellison, continue. Paramount’s annual meeting is scheduled for June 4, but it remains unclear when the directors will officially leave their positions.
Ostroff, who joined the board just a year ago, was one of the seven board nominees listed in the filing, along with Robert M. Bakish, Barbara M. Byrne, Linda M. Griego, Judith A. McHale, Charles E. Phillips Jr., Shari E. Redstone, and Susan Schuman. Redstone, through her family’s National Amusements Inc. holding company, controls Paramount and is currently engaged in exclusive talks with Skydance for a potential acquisition and merger.
The decision to engage with Skydance over an all-cash bid from private equity firm Apollo has raised concerns among some third-party shareholders. Seligman, Ostroff, and Terrell, who were part of the independent committee evaluating offers, are now set to leave the board. It remains uncertain how their departures will impact the ongoing discussions, if at all.
In the proxy filing, Paramount announced its intention to reduce the board size from 11 to seven directors at the upcoming annual meeting. The filing also revealed executive compensation packages, with CEO Bakish earning $31.3 million in 2023, a slight decrease from the previous year. CFO Naveen Chopra’s compensation saw a slight increase to $8 million in 2023.
Looking ahead, Bakish has emphasized the importance of managing costs and driving earnings growth for Paramount in 2024. This strategic shift comes as the company plans job reductions in the U.S. and abroad. Paramount’s stock faced a 17 percent decline in 2023, reflecting challenges in the entertainment industry’s evolving landscape.