George Clooney laments sale of 'mom-and-pop' shop Paramount

Actor George Clooney compared entertainment studio Paramount to a "mom-and-pop" shop after a massive entertainment merger will see the company swept up in an $8 billion sale.

Clooney was asked in a recent GQ interview if he was invested in the outcome of the sale, given its history and the fact that it means there is one less studio hiring actors.

'It's all getting eaten up by big Walmarts and Amazons around the world.'

"Paramount’s one of the great original studios," Clooney said.

Paramount was founded as the Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1912.

"But some of it you just have no say in it. Because the business, it's all getting eaten up. It's like everything — it's all getting eaten up by big Walmarts and Amazons around the world. Our version of mom-and-pop shops in a small town is Paramount."

Clooney's idea of small business may not be everyone's. Paramount Global's 2023 revenue was just shy of $30 billion.

Still, this was enough of a decline to send shares tumbling — and prompt the company to start shopping for offers.

The upcoming merger has already resulted in nearly 2,000 job cuts at Paramount Global and the shuttering of its television studios, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The studio is responsible for popular show "Reacher" on Amazon's Prime Video, as well as other shows like Roku's "The Spiderwick Chronicles."

Paramount Global's parent company, National Amusements, will be purchased by Skydance Media and other investors for $2.4 billion, along with another $1.5 billion in cash to pay off debts, and an additional $4 billion to buy off remaining Paramount shares.

Clooney reminisced in his interview about how studios "developed stars" in the past but added, "We kind of were at the very end of that, where you could work at a studio and do three or four films, and there was some plan to it."

"I don't think that’s necessarily the case anymore. So it's harder for you to sell somebody something on the back of a star."

The 63-year-old added that it's a "great time as a young actor" due to the plethora of television shows being made.

Clooney most recently made headlines after making an about-turn following a fundraiser for Joe Biden in May 2024. The actor praised the president at the successful event that brought in over $28 million for the Democrat's presidential campaign.

Clooney quickly changed course in July 2024, however, penning an op-ed in the New York Times that claimed Biden could save democracy by stepping out of the presidential race.

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