Bob Bakish is out as CEO of Paramount Worldwide

Amid the merger and acquisition drama surrounding Paramount Global, Bob Bakish is about to step down as CEO after eight years at the helm of Shari Redstone's media empire.

Bakish is expected to resign under pressure on Monday. The executive has been with Paramount and its predecessor Viacom since 1997. He was hired by Redstone in 2016 to help bring order to a company that had descended into a public legal brawl among shareholders and a battle for control between Redstone and former Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. Bakish's pending exit speech first It appeared Friday in the Wall Street Journal.

At present, Paramount's board of directors is in exclusive acquisition talks with Skydance Media and RedBird Capital. Another group, Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management, are preparing to make a formal all-cash offer for the company this week as the exclusivity negotiating period with Skydance ends on May 3.

A representative for Paramount Global declined to comment Saturday. The company is scheduled to announce first-quarter earnings on Monday. CNBC reported that Bakish would not participate in the traditional conference call with analysts accompanying the disclosure of quarterly earnings.

Bakish was virtually certain to leave his position as company leader once the sale was completed, regardless of who acquired Paramount Global. The company has been through challenges over the past year with falling stock prices, and successive quarters of weak earnings due to losses in its streaming division. CNBC reported Bakish's exit It was accelerated due to his opposition to the merger plan that came with Skydance Media.