Paramount Global unveiled its first quarter financial results on Monday as controlling shareholder National Amusements, led by Shari Redstone, is in exclusive sale negotiations with a group led by David Ellisons Skydance, as well as Gerry Cardinales RedBird Capital, and KKR.

During the latest quarter, the company hit 71 million Paramount+ streaming subscribers worldwide, up from 67.5 million Paramount+ customers at the end of its fourth quarter, and 3.7 million customers added during the last three months.

And the studio shrunk its streaming loss to $286 million for the first quarter, an improvement over a $511 million loss in Q1 2023. Direct-to-consumer revenue rose 24 percent to $1.87 billion, as advertising and subscription revenues were both up, driven by growth from Pluto TV and Paramount+. Elsewhere, TV media revenue rose 1 percent to $5.2 billion, and filmed entertainment revenue rose 3 percent to $605 million driven by business from Mean Girls and Bob Marley: One Love.

Paramounts latest earnings were released amid a flurry of deal-making speculation and the removal of Bob Bakish as CEO.

Paramount posted first-quarter net loss of $563 million, on overall revenue at $7.68 billion, up from a year-earlier $7.26 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, the studio recorded per-share earnings at 62 cents, compared to a year-earlier 9 cents per-share earnings.

Analysts forecast per-share earnings of 34 cents and revenue of $7.74 billion for the fourth quarter.

As Paramount weighs its deal-making options, the Hollywood studio parted ways with CEO Bakish with an announcement at the market close, and before an after-market analyst call got underway at 4:30 p.m. ET. The company said it created a new office of the CEO to be filled by George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins.

Paramount includes the famed Paramount film studio and lot, as well as CBS, the Paramount+ streaming service, and the former Viacom cable channels, like MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central.