Shares of Paramount Global Inc. fell Tuesday after Chief Executive Bob Bakish suggested that trends had worsened since the company’s earnings call about a month ago.
“On our third-quarter call, we talked about our fourth-quarter performance being in line with the third quarter. And…as we’ve transacted in the market, as we’ve seen the state of the scatter market, as we look to our international networks, which are impacted by the economy but also by [exchange rates], we do now see the fourth quarter coming in a bit below the third quarter.”
— Bob Bakish, Paramount CEO
Speaking at a UBS investor conference Tuesday morning, Bakish said that he and his team “love” the advertising business, even though it’s been challenging recently both in terms of traditional media and digital media.
Shares of Paramount
PARA,
-8.02%
were off more than 6% in midday Tuesday action.
“Advertising is cyclical,” he said, according to a transcript of the event provided by Sentieo/AlphaSense. “I’ve managed through a number of these cycles as recently as through the beginning of the decade. This too is a cycle. This too will turn. The only question is when — and not being an economist, I can’t tell you exactly when, but I know for sure it will turn.”
Nonetheless, Bakish spoke positively of Paramount’s positioning in the industry, pointing to the company’s cable platform and Paramount+ streaming services as places with the sort of content “that advertisers and the agencies want to be associated with.”
Shares of Paramount have declined 40% so far this year, as the S&P 500
SPX,
-1.31%
has dropped 17%.
