Paramount laying off 120 workers, replacing international head
Paramount Pictures is laying off 120 of its approximately 2,400 employees as it merges its DVD, television and digital divisions and moves the headquarters of its international operation to Los Angeles from London.
Some cuts were expected as part of a reorganization of Viacom Inc.-owned Paramount’s business operations announced last month. Like many studios, Paramount is seeking to reduce expenses in the face of dwindling DVD sales revenue and to reorient its business as the gaps between releases of movies on different platforms narrow.
Eighty of the employees losing jobs work in Los Angeles, while the other 40 are at Paramount’s international office in London.
Paramount is also bringing in a new executive to oversee its international operation. Andrew Cripps, who headed Paramount’s international operation since 1999, is being replaced by Anthony Marcoly, the former president of Walt Disney Pictures International.
Cripps elected not to leave London when the studio decided to headquarter its international operation in Los Angeles.
