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Paramount Global is ending several diversity, equity and inclusion policies related to data collection and staffing.
The company cited President Donald Trump’s executive order banning DEI in the government and directing agencies to probe private companies over their programs.
Fellow media giant Comcast is under investigation by the federal government for its DEI policies.

The Paramount Global headquarters in New York on Aug. 27, 2024.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Paramount Global told its employees this week that it’s ending numerous diversity, equity and inclusion policies, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.
In the memo sent to employees Wednesday, Paramount said it would comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning the practice in the federal government and demanding that agencies investigate private companies over their DEI programs.

Co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins cited the executive order in the memo, as well as the Supreme Court and federal mandates, as the impetus for the media giant’s policy changes.
Among the changes, the company said it “will no longer set or use aspirational numerical goals related to the race, ethnicity, sex or gender of hires.” Paramount also said it ended its policy of collecting such stats for its U.S. job applicants on forms and career pages, except in the markets where it’s legally required to do so.
“To be the best storytellers and to continue to drive success, we must have a highly talented, dedicated and creative workforce that reflects the perspectives and experiences of our many different audiences. Values like inclusivity and collaboration are a part of the Paramount culture and will continue to be,” the co-CEOs wrote in the memo.
They added that they will continue to evaluate their policies and seek talent from all backgrounds.
Paramount has taken part in a number of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. It donated millions to racial justice causes in 2020 after the police murder of George Floyd and has touted initiatives such as a supplier diversity program and Content for Change, a campaign to overhaul storytelling about racial equity and mental health. The company has hosted an annual Inclusion Week for years and maintains an Office of Global Inclusion.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion is fundamental to our business,” former CEO Bob Bakish said at Paramount’s 2023 Inclusion Week, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Paramount joins companies like Walmart, Target and Amazon in rolling back their DEI goals and policies in recent months. Others, like Apple and Costco, have publicly defended and committed to their DEI stances, even as the Trump administration has escalated its attacks on the practices.
Media companies have taken a variety of steps to respond to the Trump administration’s policy changes since the president’s inauguration last month.
Earlier this month, Disney changed its DEI programs, which included updating performance factors and rebranding initiatives and employee resource groups, among other things.
Around the same time, public broadcaster PBS — which, as a recipient of federal funding, is more directly affected by Trump’s order than corporations are — said it would shut down its DEI office. CNBC reported that DEI employees would exit the company in order for it to stay in compliance with Trump’s executive order.
Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission began investigating Comcast over its DEI efforts. Trump’s executive order, signed on his first day in office, directs federal agencies to identify and probe “most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners” in their sectors. Comcast previously said in a statement it would cooperate with the investigation.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. More

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Warner Bros. Discovery said Thursday it added 6.4 million global streaming subscribers in the fourth quarter for a total of 116.9 million subscribers.
Fourth-quarter revenue for the streaming segment, which is anchored by flagship service Max, totaled $2.65 billion, up 5% from $2.53 billion in the same quarter last year.
In a shareholder letter, the company forecast adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 billion for its streaming business for the year and said it has a “clear path” to hit 150 million global subscribers by the end of 2026.

A sign outside of the Warner Brothers Discovery Techwood Turner Broadcasting campus is seen on June 26, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

Warner Bros. Discovery said Thursday it added 6.4 million global streaming subscribers in the fourth quarter for a total of 116.9 million subscribers.
Fourth-quarter revenue for the streaming segment, which is anchored by flagship service Max, totaled $2.65 billion, up 5% from $2.53 billion in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the unit came in at $409 million, compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $55 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

In a shareholder letter, the company forecast adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 billion for its streaming business for the year — roughly double the $677 million adjusted EBITDA it reported for 2024 — and said it has a “clear path” to hit 150 million global subscribers by the end of 2026. Max is set to launch on television service Sky in the United Kingdom and Ireland by the second quarter of 2026, and will debut in Germany and Italy in the first quarter of that year.
“In this generational media disruption, only the global streamers will survive and prosper, and Max is just that,” CEO David Zaslav said on the company’s earnings call on Thursday.
The media and entertainment company announced Wednesday that Max would keep its B/R Sports and CNN content available at no additional cost to subscribers in its standard and premium tiers. Initially WBD planned to charge an additional cost for sports.
However, it will pull both verticals from its basic, ad-supported tier beginning March 30.
Here’s how Warner Bros. Discovery performed in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Loss per share: 20 cents vs. earnings per share of 1 cent expected
Revenue: $10.03 billion vs. $10.19 billion expected

WBD’s overall fourth-quarter revenue fell 2% to $10.03 billion from $10.28 billion during the same quarter in 2023. Full-year 2024 revenue came in at $39.32 billion, down 5% from $41.32 billion in 2023.
Warner Bros. Discovery reported a net loss of $494 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, or a loss of 20 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $400 million, or a loss of 16 cents per share, during the fourth quarter of 2023.
TV networks revenue came in at $4.77 billion, compared to $5.04 billion in the year-earlier period. The company previously wrote down $9.1 billion for its networks business in its 2024 second-quarter earnings report. In its shareholder letter, Warner Bros. Discovery noted that it expects further declines in cable subscribers and that the advertising market for U.S. linear television is shrinking faster than expected.
For the studios business, fourth-quarter revenue totaled $3.66 billion, an increase of 15% from $3.17 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
“We are laser-focused on getting our studios back to a place of industry leadership,” Zaslav said.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates. More

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A March meeting of vaccine advisors to the Food and Drug Administration has been canceled without explanation, a member of the advisory panel told CNBC.
It comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who now leads the Department of Health and Human Services, makes early moves that could affect vaccination uptake and policy in the U.S.
The meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC, is held every March to pick flu select flu strains for shots released in the upcoming fall and winter. 

FILE PHOTO: The headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seen in Silver Spring, Maryland November 4, 2009. 
Jason Reed | Reuters

A crucial March meeting of vaccine advisors to the Food and Drug Administration has been canceled without explanation, a member of the advisory panel told CNBC on Wednesday. 
The meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC, is held every March to select flu strains for shots released in the upcoming fall and winter. 

But Dr. Paul Offit, a member of that panel, told CNBC that he received an email at 4:18 p.m. ET on Wednesday saying that the upcoming March 13 meeting is canceled. He said there was no indication of whether it will be rescheduled.
“Who canceled this meeting? Why did they cancel the meeting? Will manufacturers now turn to the World Health Organization to determine strains for this year’s influenza vaccines?” Offit told CNBC. 
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The canceled meeting comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who now leads HHS, makes early moves that could affect vaccination uptake and policy in the U.S. Kennedy has a lengthy track record of being a vaccine skeptic. 
It also comes amid a particularly brutal flu season in the U.S. CDC data shows the flu has caused up to an estimated 910,000 hospitalizations since October, which puts the season on track to be the most severe in at least a decade.

Earlier this month, a separate meeting of advisors who help the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention make recommendations for vaccines was postponed to “accommodate public comment in advance of the meeting,” several news outlets reported. It is also unclear if that meeting will be rescheduled. 
Kennedy also said last week that he will review the childhood vaccine schedule despite earlier pledges not to do so. He promised that a new “Make America Healthy Again” commission would investigate vaccines, pesticides and antidepressants to see if they have contributed to a rise of chronic illness in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is weighing pulling funding for Moderna’s bird flu vaccine, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
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