The Paramount CEO officially stepped down from his role on Monday after over 20 years with the company.
Bob Bakish stepped down from his role as the CEO of Paramount Global on Monday, April 29, to… the Mission: Impossible theme song? Yeah, pretty much. During a 9-minute long earnings call where Paramount formally announced Bakish’s departure from the company, they allegedly refused questions and then “played the Mission: Impossible song on a loop,” reports Anna Nicolaou of Financial Times. This change in leadership was teased on Saturday amid tension with National Amusements’s Shari Redstone, who owns Paramount Global and is reportedly unhappy with Bakish’s leadership. He has been with the company since 1997 and became Viacom’s CEO in 2016, maintaining his role through the Viacom CBS merger of 2019.
Bakish will be replaced by three executives: George Cheeks, the CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy, the CEO of Showtime, MTV Entertainment Studios, and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins, the CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.
so in summary: Paramount fired its CEO, then hosted an earnings call for only 9 minutes, refused to take any questions, and played the mission impossible song on a loop
— Anna Nicolaou (@annaknicolaou) April 29, 2024
Paramount playing the Mission Impossible music at the end of its earnings call is a bit on the nose.
— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) April 29, 2024
This is an extremely niche tweet, but Paramount ending their earnings call after 10 minutes with no Q&A and then BLASTING the Mission: Impossible theme song is genuinely the funniest goddamn thing.
— Alex Stedman (@a_sted) April 29, 2024
Paramount has reportedly been trying to find someone to buy the company for quite a while now, which begs the most important question of all: Will they still get custody of Tom Cruise after the divorce? Fear not, since according to CNBC, Skydance Media, who produced Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, has sent over a “best and final” offer to buy all or part of Paramount. Chop chop, movie execs. Top Gun 3 is on the line.
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