# Paramount Global new logo (2022)

> Paramount Global launched a new logo in Feb 2022. Feb 16 2022: ViacomCBS renamed Paramount Global.

## Key facts

- Brand: Paramount Global
- Launched: Feb 2022
- What changed: Feb 16 2022: ViacomCBS renamed Paramount Global.
- Why: ViacomCBS became Paramount because its chief executive said the old name screamed two companies and bought no consumer benefit.
- Industry: Media
- Logos: https://rebrandlog.com/logos/paramount-2022/before.svg (before), https://rebrandlog.com/logos/paramount-2022/after.svg (after)

## The rebrand, explained

On 16 February 2022 ViacomCBS announced it would become Paramount, calling it an iconic global name for an iconic global company. The new name nodded to the storied film studio and to Paramount+, the streaming service launched in March 2021 that the company had made its centrepiece.

The problem it solved was structural. Chief executive Bob Bakish put it bluntly to Deadline: ViacomCBS screams that we are two companies, and we are not. Shari Redstone and Bakish framed the change around both heritage and a future as a home to and producer of the world's greatest content. CBS, a name that goes back to 1927, stayed on the broadcast network.

Investors did not care about the name. The rebrand was unveiled at an investor event alongside a streaming content slate, and the next day shares slumped by about a fifth, Reuters, Variety and Deadline reported, on an earnings miss, plans to spend heavily on streaming content and analyst downgrades. The new ticker was PARA.

Commenters noted that the move put Paramount alongside Disney and NBCUniversal in naming the whole company after its film studio. The change centred on the name rather than new artwork, and reader comments under the coverage argued over which version of the mountain and its 22 stars the company should use.

Variety reported that Shari Redstone and Bob Bakish announced the change in a staff memo and then opened a three hour investor presentation with it, arriving by sports car at Kaufman Astoria Studios, the original New York home of Paramount Pictures. Bakish gave the blunt rationale afterwards: ViacomCBS screamed two companies, and money spent on that name bought no consumer benefit, while every dollar behind Paramount would accrue to Paramount+ and the film studio. The rename, in other words, was a streaming strategy wearing a mountain.

Deadline published the memo that Bob Bakish and Shari Redstone sent to staff, which leaned entirely on heritage: an iconic global company deserves an iconic global name, one reflecting the company's role as stewards of a rich heritage, and a name synonymous with great entertainment for more than a century, back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. The memo also noted it had been a year since Paramount+ launched and two since Viacom and CBS merged. Choosing the one name everybody already knows is the safest move in corporate naming, and here it was plainly the right one.

The logic is unarguable. A conglomerate that sells one streaming service under one name should be called that name. What it shows is how a corporate rebrand often amounts to a portfolio decision dressed as identity work.

In short: The right name, finally. The design question was always secondary to the merger hangover.

## Sources

- https://ir.paramount.com/news-releases/news-release-details/viacomcbs-unveils-new-company-name-global-content-slate-and
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/813828/000081382822000011/viac-20220216.htm
- https://deadline.com/2022/02/viacomcbs-rebrand-paramount-shari-redstone-bob-bakish-1234934244/
- https://variety.com/2022/film/news/viacomcbs-paramount-corporate-name-change-1235182825/

## Cite this

Rebrand Log, "Paramount Global new logo (2022)", https://rebrandlog.com/rebrand/paramount-2022/, last updated 2026-10-20.