Among the major legacy companies, Paramount Global is the most affected by changing structural forces in the media and entertainment ecosystem. In a beleaguered industry, there may not be another conglomerate as beleaguered as Shari Redstone’s media empire.
A combination of an unprofitable direct-to-consumer segment, a faltering studio operation and exposure to linear TV has made Paramount Global’s problems outweigh its many strengths, such as owning one of the most valuable TV libraries and the rights to the NFL for another decade. Not having juicy theme park revenue to fall back on, à la Disney and Universal, also doesn’t help.