Something big is going on out at Paramount (NASDAQ:PARA). Two days ago, we discovered that Paramount had shut down the MTV News archives, an online repository of music news that went back more than 20 years. That alone might have been calamity enough for any amateur—or maybe even professional—historian, but the removals carried on in earnest. Reports note that websites for a range of Paramount properties—Comedy Central, CMT, Paramount Network, and TV Land—are all redirecting users to Paramount+.
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That’s taken a staggering array of content with it, as everything from pre-2016 episodes of “The Daily Show” to full episodes of “Key & Peele,” which stopped being produced in 2015, are now out of the picture.
More Streamlined Websites
The reason behind this massive teardown, reports suggest, can be traced back to one word from a Paramount Global rep, “streamlined.” Specifically, the rep noted, “We have introduced more streamlined versions of our sites, driving fans to Paramount+ to watch their favorite shows.”
Moving shows make a certain amount of sense, but there was quite a bit of other content on those sites—including all the news from MTV—that currently seems to be unaccounted for. This may be part of Paramount’s cost-cutting moves to save money on web hosting, but that seems like a drop in the bucket against the half-billion dollars Paramount hopes to save.
Is Paramount Global a Buy or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Sell consensus rating on PARA stock based on two Buys, six Holds, and nine Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 34.22% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $11.68 per share implies 14.79% upside potential.
