Paramount's latest earnings report dropped like a bomb on Wall Street: a $573 million loss in Q4, more than double the $224 million they hemorrhaged a year ago. And here's the paradox that should terrify every media executive: they're winning at streaming while losing at business.

The numbers tell a story Hollywood doesn't want to hear. Paramount+ added 1 million subscribers to hit 79 million total, revenue climbed 17% to $1.84 billion, and the streaming division actually narrowed its losses from $286 million to $158 million. By streaming metrics, this is success. By actual financial metrics, they're sinking.

According to TheWrap, CEO David Ellison characterized the potential Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition as an "accelerant" to achieving company goals. Translation: we can't do this alone. The question is whether consolidation is the answer or just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

The TV division is keeping the lights on—profits up 15% despite a 5% revenue decline to $4.7 billion. Meanwhile, the studio division posted a $119 million loss even as revenue grew 16%. They're planning 15+ theatrical releases for 2026, which sounds ambitious until you remember they're calling it a "rebuild phase."

Here's the brutal truth: streaming works for Netflix, which achieved scale before everyone else showed up to the party. For everyone else, it's an expensive game of catch-up with no clear path to profitability. Paramount maintains 2026 targets of $3.8 billion adjusted EBITDA and $30 billion in revenue, but maintaining targets isn't the same as hitting them.

In Hollywood, nobody knows anything—except that you can't lose half a billion dollars every quarter forever. Even in an industry famous for creative accounting.