Paramount Global (PARA) announced in a memo to employees Tuesday that it will close its renowned television studio by the end of the week – the latest move in a series of aggressive cost-cutting measures the company is undertaking ahead of its expected merger with Skydance Media.

“Paramount Global has made the difficult decision to close Paramount Television Studios as part of the company’s broader restructuring plans,” wrote Nicole Clemens, president of Paramount TV Studios. “This has been a challenging and transformative time for the entire industry, and unfortunately, our studio is not immune.”

Paramount’s television studio has produced top series such as Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why,” Amazon’s (AMZN) “Reacher” and Apple’s (AAPL) “Defending Jacob.” The stock remained unchanged following the news.

Clemens will leave the company due to the closure. All current series and development projects will be transferred to CBS Studios, the company announced.

“To be clear, this is not a decision based on the performance of PTVS,” Paramount co-CEO George Cheeks wrote in a follow-up memo to employees. “This move is the result of significant changes in the TV and streaming market and the need to streamline our business.”

Last week, Paramount reported a sharper decline in its linear TV business than analysts expected as the company took a nearly $6 billion writedown on the value of its cable division. At the same time, the media giant announced plans to lay off 15 percent of its U.S. workforce, after already cutting around 800 jobs in February.

According to a separate internal memo from the company’s trio of CEOs, the layoffs began Tuesday and will continue in three phases through the end of the year.

“We expect 90% of these actions to be completed by the end of September,” Cheeks and co-CEOs Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy wrote to employees.

The developments come as the entertainment giant prepares its balance sheet for a potential acquisition of Skydance, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025.

Skydance, which is valued at $4.75 billion after the all-stock transaction, said it would inject $6 billion in cash into Paramount, with $1.5 billion going directly to the company’s debt-ridden balance sheet.

Skydance CEO David Ellison will become chairman and CEO of the combined company, while former NBCUniversal executive Jeff Shell, who was fired last year because NBC parent company Comcast (CMCSA) had an “inappropriate relationship” with an employee, will become president.

Last month, the new leadership team laid out its strategic vision for Paramount, which calls for $2 billion in cost cuts, of which $500 million has already been implemented. The recent wave of layoffs and announcements of restructuring underscore those efforts.

Alexandra Canal is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and send her an email at [email protected].

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