MAY 8, 2023 – Happy 109th birthday to Paramount Pictures! Though the news for its parent company, Paramount Global, and its shareholders could be better at the moment.

Deadline reported last Thursday a drop of 25% in Paramount’s stock value and the cutting of dividends from 24 cents per quarter to 5 cents per quarter. Factors accounting for the backslide include drops in advertising and losses on the streaming side.

CFO Naveen Chopra said, “It’s prudent for all companies to maximize their balance sheet for flexibility. I would emphasize that the reduction of the dividend does not mean that we intend to spend more than previously planned on streaming.” It’s about conserving cash “and deleveraging our balance sheet, which is smart thing to do in an uncertain environment. And to create long term shareholder value.”

Paramount Global’s division and producer of the film side of the Star Trek franchise, Paramount Pictures, though, can at least look back on a long history. It is the second oldest film studio in the US, after Universal Studios, and, depending on how one wants to date things, traces its roots back to 1914. Paramount Pictures was founded on this date by William Wadsworth Hodkinson. Paramount distributed the films of Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players Film Company (1912) and Jesse Lasky’s Lasky Feature Play Company (1913). The three companies would merge in 1916. Over the years, corporate machinations would bring a plethora of other names into the mix, including CBS, Desilu, Gulf+Western, Viacom, etc., many of which Star Trek fans on both the TV and film sides will recognize.

For more on the current situation at Paramount, head over to Deadline.