I’m as guilty as anyone in making snap judgements or even prejudgements, especially when the concept of monetization is involved. I freely admit it’s a trigger point for me, if for no other reason than I live with the omnipresence of others judging me for even thinking of paying to read someone else’s insights and opinions.
This is no truer than in the case of PUCK and its appropriately puckish co-founder and champion Matthew Belloni. When I first experienced him, it was via his podcast where he interviewed a good friend and fellow researcher and strategist. His approach was especially snarky and, in this particular case, underinformed. When my friend attempted to offer him a bit of schooling on where he may have been mistaken, his pushback was obvious and dismissive. And once I saw his site’s subscription rates, which are substantially higher than many of the competitors in the “alternative to Penske” space, I immediately developed my own degree of animosity. You may recall I even gave him my signature snark of an AI avatar, which in this case likened him to Oscar Mayer.
But last night, another good friend who does have the ability to subscribe to his writing was kind enough to send me his contribution yesterday to the news cycle surrounding the ever-changing landscape at Paramount Global. Those in front of paywalls, such as THE WRAP’s Lucas Manfredi, were merely reporting the wagons being circled among the hydra that has been running the place:
Paramount Global is offering sweetened benefits to co-CEOs Chris McCarthy, George Cheeks and Brian Robbins as the company prepares to merge with David Ellison’s Skydance Media in the first half of 2025.
In a new SEC filing on Tuesday, the media giant revealed that the executives will be entitled to resign for “good reason” and receive severance payments in the event that duties or responsibilities assigned are “substantially inconsistent” with their positions or duties as a co-CEO or if there’s a “material reduction” in such position or duties.
In June, Paramount offered the executives a severance multiple of two, a benefit continuation period of 24 months and a target annual cash bonus of $2.75 million that would be prorated and apply only to the portion of the the current fiscal year in which they serve in the Office of the CEO. But on Tuesday, Paramount said the target annual cash bonus would continue to apply for the duration of their employment with the company in any capacity.
Given the immediate priorities of the incoming management team, this news is hardly surprising. A company that has struggled this much over a sustained period of time does not need three or even two CEOs, and when detailed severance packages are being developed that’s as sure a sign as anything that the winds of change are kicking up.
But only Belloni offered up some details as to how those winds of change might ultimately settle:
How all of this impacts the top Paramount executives, especially the trio we are still
not calling the Pep Boys, remains an open question. Cheeks, McCarthy, and
Robbins all got fat contracts with lucrative change-of-control provisions when they
were elevated to co-C.E.O.s during that wild period earlier this year when Redstone
took Paramount off the table. So each is highly incentivized to stay until the
closing. But they are all said to be actively plotting their next moves. Will McCarthy
leverage the Taylor Sheridan relationship into a big job post-merger? Could Cheeks
move back to NBCUniversal under the newly promoted Donna Langley? Might
Robbins, who is said to be the least cheerleader-y toward Skydance in meetings,
look to raise his own money for a post-Paramount venture? Only rumors, at this point.
Now layer on this additional tidbit from Manfredi’s reporting:
McCarthy, who serves as Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks president and CEO, was previously designated as interim principal executive officer on May 1 for purposes of the rules and regulations of the SEC.
And then return back to some additional dirt which Belloni was able to share:
I’ve been hearing mostly cautious (okay… very cautious) positive reactions to the
meet-and-greets and a few dozen or so “integration” sessions, which are part of
the process for the overall Skydance-National Amusements-Paramount
combination. That deal isn’t expected to close until next spring, but per the
guidelines for such transactions, Shell has done one-on-one sit-downs with dozens
of division heads across the company. And both Ellison and Shell, via these once or twice-a-week meetings, are getting detailed business and strategy
presentations from unit teams. Ellison has also been meeting with Paramount-affiliated talent like Tom Cruise, Taylor Sheridan, and the South Park guys
(definitely not at the same time).
It sure seems like there’s an obvious candidate to emerge as the odds-on favorite to stick around, particularly since a great deal of the limited success that Paramount+ has had is directly tied to Sheridan, particularly once the initial misstep of licensing the back end of YELLOWSTONE to a rival was righted. And Belloni further reported that that kind of deal-making is especially frowned on by the incoming commanders:
(T)he new team has questioned the windowing strategy of, say, new Paramount
movies, which go to Prime Video on a nonexclusive basis after a short period of
exclusivity on Par+. Shell believes licensing nonexclusively to a massive platform
like Prime Video is basically like offering an exclusive—i.e., everyone’s gonna watch
it there. So he wants more exclusive windowing.
So clearly, the sort of detail that Belloni is providing is coming from SOMEONE high up enough to know all of this. The only open question to me is: is it coming from someone who is ready to ascend to unilateral control, or someone looking to plant seeds to set up an even softer landing than a potential eight-figure golden parachute will provide?
Those sort of relationships and the trust built into them are invaluable and rare. And as someone who knows Belloni personally recently confided to me, he’s got plenty of those. Especially among those with business affairs backgrounds.
But since a good reporter never would reveal their sources, we mere mortals are only left to speculate. But the fact that we are only enhances the value and importance of PUCK and Belloni’s narrative. And for those where money is less of an object than it is for moi, there’s ample reason for you to subscribe. And now that I’m getting familiar with more of his knowledge base than what he had on scheduling strategy and research, it’s a decision I would heartily endorse.
In fact, maybe you can convince him to set up an additional tier to supply slightly more directional clues as to exactly where and from whom he’s getting his info. The original “Deep Throat” eventually was able to reveal his identity and profit from it. Somewhere down the line, Belloni’s “Deep Deli” should have the same chance. After all, severances don’t necessarily last a lifetime.
Until next time…