LOS ANGELES – Layoff notices were being sent starting Wednesday to roughly 1,000 U.S. employees of Paramount, nearly three months after the entertainment giant’s takeover by David Ellison’s Skydance Media.

Company executives indicated when the merger was completed in early August that cuts were on the horizon.

In a memo sent to employees Wednesday morning and obtained by various media outlets, Ellison said the cuts are essential to building a stronger company.

“We want to be as open and direct as possible about the reasons behind these changes,” Ellison wrote in the memo. “In some areas, we are addressing redundancies that have emerged across the organization. In others, we are phasing out roles that are no longer aligned with our evolving priorities and the new structure designed to st

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