Pam Kaufman, the head of Paramount‘s international business and a longtime studio veteran, is leaving the company after almost 30 years, Variety understands.
According to sources, Kaufman will be stepping back from her current position as president and CEO of international markets, global consumer products and experiences, a role that saw her responsible for driving the growth of Paramount’s international business across six continents, including broadcast and cable networks, streaming and studios.
Kaufman join Nickelodeon in 1997, becoming its first CMO and helping launch and develop billion-dollar franchises including SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, JoJo Siwa, and PAW Patrol. That success paved the way for her to lead the Paramount’s first-ever global consumer products division beginning in 2018 and spanning the entire portfolio including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures.
In 2021, Kaufman was named president of global consumer products and experiences — a role in which she oversaw worldwide product and business development, marketing, franchise planning, creative strategy, retail sales and consumer insights for all brands in the portfolio. A year later, her role was expanded again to include oversight of the company’s international business, across streaming, free-to-air, cable and more.
In a memo to staff seen by Variety entitled “I’ve had the slime of my life,” Kaufman said it had been the “honor of a lifetime” working at Paramount.
“Together, we built billion-dollar franchises. We turned a yellow sea sponge into a global icon. We acquired and reignited the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, made ‘Emily in Paris’ a must- ave lifestyle brand, and built PAW Patrol into a top preschool brand,” she wrote. “We hit fashion runways with designers from Stella McCartney to Gucci, and we stayed in the zeitgeist with collaborations that sold out in minutes – from Crocs to Supreme. Our gaming business enabled fans to create their own adventures like with the incredibly successful Star Trek Fleet Command, with 20 million downloads and counting. We graced Broadway and London’s West End with theatrical productions from ‘Mean Girls’ to ‘Sunset Boulevard.; We expanded into award-winning hotels, resorts, theme parks, and live tours. In building out these world-class brands and franchises, we created a $7B retail business.”
Outside Paramount, Kaufman serves on the boards of Lindblad Expeditions, Stella McCartney and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.
Kaufman’s department comes amid several senior execs leaving Paramount in the wake of the Skydance acquisition. Earlier this month, it was announced that president of global marketing and distribution Marc Weinstock was exiting the company, following in the heels of global co-CEOs Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins, longtime communications exec David Bittler, chief content licensing officer Dan Cohen, president, comms exec Liza Burnett Fefferman and CEO of Paramount Streaming Tom Ryan.
“I am excited to see what David Ellison, Jeff Shell, and the new leadership team have planned for the future. While I am consulting through the end of the year, I leave with immense pride in what we have built and confidence in what’s ahead,” concluded Kaufman. “I will always be rooting for Paramount, and I will definitely be first in line for the Top Gun Las Vegas experience.”