Paramount Global (PARA) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending June 30, 2023

August 7, 2023 4:30 p.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon. My name is Nadia and I’ll be the conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Paramount Global’s Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would now like to turn the call over to Kristin Southey, Paramount Global’s EVP, Investor Relations. You may now begin your conference call.

Kristin Southey

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join us for our second quarter 2023 earnings call. Joining me for today’s discussion are Bob Bakish, our President and CEO; and Naveen Chopra, our CFO. Please note that in addition to our earnings release, we have trending schedules containing supplemental information available on our website.

Before we start this afternoon, I want to remind you that certain statements made on this call are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in more detail in our filings with the SEC. Some of today’s financial remarks will focus on adjusted results. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures can be found in our earnings release or in our trending schedules, which contain supplemental information, and in each case, can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website.

Now I will turn the call over to Bob.

Bob Bakish

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Naveen and I are looking forward to walking you through Paramount’s results for the second quarter and our views on the business.

Before we get started, I want to touch on some exciting breaking news. Today, we announced an important milestone with our agreement to sell Simon & Schuster to KKR for $1.62 billion. Naveen will walk you through some of the details. But in short, we are thrilled with this transaction, which is an important step in our delevering plan.

With that, let’s turn to today’s business. Let me start by saying this. Without question, there is an incredible amount of change happening across our industry. But what I’ve learned is that when you have a coherent strategy, strong execution and the ability to stay nimble, your business will be built to weather periods of change and transformation. That is our approach at Paramount, what we remain focused on every day.