Good morning! Simone Biles is Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year, Meghan Markle has a new lifestyle show, and Shari Redstone plans her exit from her family’s company. Have a restful weekend!
– Paramount importance. Emotions ran high throughout 2024 at Shari Redstone’s Paramount Global, as my colleague Lila MacLellan details for Fortune. Multiple rounds of layoffs and general mismanagement—including a confusing C-suite structure with three co-CEOs—created an atmosphere “full of tension, grief, and uncertainty” for employees, according to former employees. The company’s stock fell significantly in 2024, and its cable business took a $6 billion write-down in August.
When Redstone, currently chairwoman of the media empire, reached an $8 billion deal to merge Paramount with Skydance Media in July of last year, it seemed like everyone could finally take a breath—at least until more details come out about what it could look like post-merger.
