It probably should not have come as a surprise to anyone that Paramount Global’s (PARA) recent layoffs did not sit well with some. In fact, a new lawsuit has emerged that alleges Paramount did not sweat the small stuff as well as it should have when cutting its people loose.
Former employee Julian Hagins named not only Paramount but also CBS Interactive in a class-action lawsuit over the recent layoffs. Hagins’ suit alleges that Paramount failed to give 90 days notice to the fired staff, which is part of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act in New York. The staff in question were completely removed from their jobs in under a week.
The suit seeks “…an amount equal to the sum of their underpaid wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, pension, 401(k) and healthcare contributions,” as well as other benefits for a period of 60 calendar days.
New Content Ahead
Separately, Paramount is continuing its ongoing effort to pull in more viewers with better content. In fact, Paramount is working to develop a new triple-A game around one of its biggest franchises: Avatar: The Last Airbender. A co-production with Saber Interactive, this one will deal with a “never before seen Avatar,” several thousand years before the story of Aang.
Perhaps even better, Paramount+ seems to be the new home of the Indiana Jones franchise. The first four films in the series have arrived on Paramount+.
Is Paramount Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on PARA stock based on four Buy, eight Hold and six Sell recommendations assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 10.4% loss in its share price over the past year, the average PARA price target of $12.43 per share implies 19% upside potential.
