Jeff Shultz, chief strategy officer and chief business development officer of Paramount Global’s streaming division, will leave the firm at the end of this year.
Shultz joined Paramount in 2019 as part of the purchase of Pluto TV, and he was a key member of the leadership team that created and expanded the Paramount+ subscription service.
Shultz announced his departure from Paramount Global in a LinkedIn post on Friday. “To my colleagues at Paramount Streaming, writing this incredible story with you has been the honor of my career,” he said in an email. “I’m sorry I won’t be with you for the next chapter, but I can’t wait to see where you go from here.”
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In July, Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone reached an agreement to combine Paramount with Skydance Media, which is slated to finalize in the first half of 2025. Meanwhile, Paramount has implemented layoffs and personnel reorganization in the United States, with the goal of reducing domestic headcount by 15%.
Shultz became Pluto TV’s chief business officer in early 2018, after three years of advising the free, ad-supported streaming service. A year later, Viacom paid $340 million for the free, ad-supported streaming business. Tom Ryan, the previous CEO of Pluto TV, is now the President and CEO of Paramount Streaming, which includes Paramount+, Pluto TV, and the company’s other streaming operations.
“Six and a half years ago, celebrating the acquisition of Pluto TV by Viacom with the team in Santa Barbara, I gave a toast recognizing the moment that concluded: ‘We’re just getting started,'” Shultz said on her LinkedIn page. “Despite all we’ve done since then, I still feel this way. So, with mixed feelings, I announce that I will be departing Paramount later this year.
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Shultz highlighted arrangements he made for Pluto TV’s service, including with the NFL, Major League Baseball, Warner Bros. Discovery, A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, MGM, Fremantle, and Banijay Entertainment. Pluto TV also formed partnerships with Amazon, Roku, Google, Apple, T-Mobile, Verizon, Comcast, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Vizio, and other companies during his tenure.
In 2019, when Viacom purchased Pluto TV, the free streamer made around $70 million in income; three years later, “Pluto TV was a billion-dollar business,” according to Shutlz.
In 2021, the business renamed CBS All Access as Paramount+, becoming the Paramount Streaming division. In the second quarter of 2024, the division recorded $1.9 billion in sales, accounting for one-fourth of Paramount Global’s total.
In a LinkedIn entry, Shultz stated that he was “deeply grateful for the leadership and friendship of Tom Ryan, and the partnership and excellence of the Paramount Streaming leadership team Elizabeth Wright, Domenic DiMeglio, Jeff Grossman, Amy Kuessner, Olivier Jollet, Marco Nobili, Erin Calhoun, and Abhinav Chopra.”
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