Paramount Sells Two Entertainment Websites Amid Cost-Cutting Effort

As it looks to shed assets in order to achieve $500 million in cost savings, Paramount Global has sold two entertainment news websites in its portfolio to the digital media executive who once ran the sites.

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ComicBook and PopCulture have been sold to Savage Ventures, a digital media operator run by Sam Savage. The two websites had been in the CBS Interactive portfolio since 2018, when they were acquired while Savage was listed as CEO at ComicBook and PopCulture.

No layoffs were made as part of the sale and employees were made comparable offers to join Savage Ventures, a source familiar with the process says. The deal has closed, although terms weren’t disclosed.

“Let me be clear: ComicBook and PopCulture aren’t going ANYWHERE. We are keeping the team intact and continuing the great work we have been doing for years,” assistant managing editor Joe Schmidt wrote on X on Thursday.

During an earnings call, Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy characterized the effort to divest some assets as a way to “reshape our portfolio to best compete in the future.” The exec added, “The assets under consideration are undeniably strong with exciting futures ahead.” At the same time, Paramount plans to reduce its U.S. workforce this year by 15 percent across multiple divisions.

Another Paramount asset that has been subject to sale speculation has been its BET Media Group, which comprises the BET channel, streamer BET+ as well as VH1 and BET Studios.

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Over the past several years, Paramount has sold off multiple assets in a bid to scale up its efforts in the streaming space to support its flagship service, Paramount+, which hit a small streaming profit for the first time in its latest quarter and has 68 million subscribers.

The company has sold tech site CNET for $500 million in 2020, CBS’ New York BlackRock headquarters building for $760 million, CBS’ Studio City lot for $1.85 billion in 2021 and Simon & Schuster for $1.62 billion last year.

The deal for the entertainment sites marks the latest digital roll-up move for Savage Ventures. The Nashville-based company inked a joint venture deal in May with Vice Media Group a year after it filed for bankruptcy to relaunch the recently shuttered digital brands of Vice (Munchies, Motherboard, and Noisey) as part of its portfolio that includes Outdoors and American Songwriter.

TheWrap earlier reported the sale of ComicBook and PopCulture.

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