Copyright nytimes

Some of Paramount’s most senior employees have already announced their departures as the layoffs have drawn near. Pam Kaufman, the head of Paramount’s international business, told employees in September she was leaving after more than a quarter-century. Chris Aronson, the president of U.S. distribution for Paramount Pictures, said this month that he would be departing in December. Successive waves of layoffs have become the new normal in Hollywood as executives merge companies and try to wring out billions in costs after those deals close. The specter of further cuts has been the talk of Hollywood in recent days as Mr. Ellison plans a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, HBO and the Warner Bros. film studio.