Robert Marc Bakish (/ˈbækɪʃ/BACK-ish;[1] born December 14, 1963) is an American business executive. He has been president and CEO of
Paramount Global since December 4, 2019, formerly holding the same position at
Viacom before the
merger with
CBS Corporation.
After receiving his MBA, Bakish joined the management and technology consulting firm
Booz Allen Hamilton in 1990, and rose to become a partner in its media and entertainment practice.[8][citation needed]
Career at Paramount
Early positions
In February 1997, Bakish joined
Viacom. Initially as vice president of planning and development,[8] he became senior vice president of planning, development and
technology in January 1998.[8]
In October 1999, he became the executive vice president of planning and business development of Viacom's subsidiary
MTV Networks.[9] From 2001 through 2004, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer of advertising sales at MTV Networks.[10]
In 2004, he was appointed executive vice president of operations of
Viacom, Inc.,[11][12][13][14][15] and in 2006 he was also appointed executive vice president of
Viacom Enterprises.[16][17][18][19][20] In these two positions, he was responsible for Viacom's strategic planning and business development plus oversight of a range of business units including
Famous Music,
Famous Players, Viacom Plus sales and information services and technology, as well as heading Viacom's cross-divisional marketing council.[21][18][22][12]
Head of international operations
In January 2007 Bakish became President of
MTV Networks International (MTVNI),[23] with financial and management responsibility for MTVNI, overseeing all MTV Networks operations outside the U.S.[22] He immediately restructured MTVNI, cutting 8% of the workforce in addition to merging some overseas units with the UK business and devolving responsibilities for Latin American operations to new offices across the region.[24] He launched the popular
Colors franchise of networks via the
Viacom18 joint venture in the high-growth market of India.[25][26][2][27] MTVNI had double-digit, year-on-year growth during his tenure.[28][29]
When MTVNI CEO Bill Roedy resigned in January 2011, Bakish was promoted to the newly created position of president and CEO of
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN).[30][31][32][33][34] This promotion included responsibility for all Viacom media networks and operations internationally, including
MTV,
Nickelodeon,
Comedy Central,
BET,
VH1,
VIVA,
TMF,
Game One and
MTV Tres;[35][4] plus oversight of all of Viacom's international TV-related joint ventures, including Viacom18 in India and
ViacomSBS in Korea, as well as channel ventures with
BSkyB in the UK and
Foxtel in Australia.[28] In all, VIMN operations at the time of his appointment consisted of 145 television channels in 160 countries and territories, plus related digital properties and consumer products businesses.[33] During his tenure, Bakish expanded Viacom's international footprint,[26][36] and VIMN was Viacom's most successful division; revenue doubled, and VIMN grew to more than 200 television channels.[25][37][2] Under his leadership, the
Paramount Channel was launched, offering movies and television shows in Europe, Latin America and Russia.[25][36] He oversaw the expansion of networks such as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and
Spike to an increasing number of foreign markets,[25][36] and helped orchestrate the acquisition of
Channel 5 in the UK and
Telefe in Argentina.[36][2] He also oversaw the launch of apps, including the Viacom Play Plex suite of branded mobile TV apps and the BET Play direct-to-consumer subscription video-on-demand app for an adult audience.[25][38][26][39][40]
CEO
In October 2016, Bakish was named acting president and CEO of Viacom effective November 15, replacing interim CEO
Tom Dooley.[41][37][42][43] Simultaneously, he was also appointed president and CEO of the newly created Viacom Global Entertainment Group, combining Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) with Viacom's Music and Entertainment group, which includes MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Spike TV and
Logo TV; two additional networks,
TV Land and
CMT, also joined the Global Entertainment Group.[41][37][42][43] Optimistic that Bakish could make good on his plans to turn Viacom's core U.S. cable networks and its
Paramount Pictures film studio around, the board of directors of Viacom Inc. made Bakish's appointment as president and CEO permanent on December 12, 2016.[44][36][45]
In early 2017, Bakish laid out a five-point plan to turn Viacom around and return the company to steady profitability. This consisted of focusing on Viacom's six flagship brands: BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and Paramount; revitalizing content and talent; deepening distributor and advertiser partnerships to drive traditional revenue; increasing digital offerings, consumer products and live experiences; and optimizing and energizing the organization.[46][47][2][48][49][50] The strategy also included having
Paramount Pictures develop films and franchises connected to Viacom television content; additionally, Spike TV would be rebranded as and converted to a broad-based general entertainment channel, the
Paramount Network, in early 2018.[49][47][46][2][48][51]
By the fall of 2017 Bakish had restructured Viacom, replacing executives at nearly every company, including hiring
Jim Gianopulos - formerly chairman and CEO of
20th Century Fox, as the new chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures.[52][53]
In 2018, Bakish's implementation of his five-point comprehensive strategy was credited with Viacom's much improved finances and improved company morale and focus.[54][55] In 2018, under Bakish's direction and in accordance with his plan to capture younger and digital markets, Viacom acquired digital platform
WhoSay,[56][57] internet video conference
VidCon,[58][56][57] and online television network
AwesomenessTV.[59] In early 2018, Bakish also announced the launch of an official Viacom streaming service, which will support ads and will include series and content from Viacom that hasn't been available on other streaming services.[60][61][62][63][64] In April 2018, Viacom launched Viacom Digital Studios, which will create new original content hosted on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.[65][66][67][68][69] In addition, later that June, Bakish announced that Viacom will produce some new series exclusively for
Netflix, beginning with Nickelodeon-related content.[70][71][72][73]
In September 2018, due largely to his turnaround of Viacom, The Hollywood Reporter listed Bakish as #20 in its The Hollywood Reporter 100: The Most Powerful People in Entertainment 2018.[74]
Bakish retained the role of CEO when CBS Corporation and Viacom
reunited under a single company to form Paramount Global (then known as ViacomCBS), which closed on December 4, 2019.[75]
In December 2023, Bakish and
David Zaslav discussed the possibility of Paramount Global merging with
Warner Bros. Discovery.[76] TD Cowen analyst, Doug Creutz, told
The Hollywood Reporter: “We have a very hard time believing the current FTC/DOJ, which has been very aggressive in combating industry consolidation, would give this deal a pass.”[77] However, in February 2024, the discussion was abandoned.
Board memberships
Bakish has been on the board of directors of Paramount since its merger, and previously at
Viacom from December 12, 2016, up until the merger.[78] He is also on the board of directors at
Avid Technology, Inc.[22]