This article is about the media conglomerate in operation from 2005 to 2019. For the original CBS Corporation that operated from 1997 to 2000, see Westinghouse Electric Corporation. For the media conglomerate that acquired the first incarnation in 1999 and ceased operations in 2005, see Viacom (1952–2005).
In March 2005, Viacom contemplated splitting the company into two publicly traded companies, amid issues of the stock price stagnating and clashing corporate cultures between the cable and broadcast divisions, which came to a head with the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy a year previous with the MTV-produced show causing controversy for game broadcaster CBS.
The split was structured such that the second Viacom was spun off from the first Viacom, which was renamed CBS Corporation. In a sense, this was a repeat of the 1971 spin-off. However, in this case, CBS retained virtually all of the prior firm's broadcast television assets, including its various syndication companies.
With the split, the two companies began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbols "CBS.A" and "CBS" (the latter symbol was previously used by CBS, Inc. as an independent company prior to its 1995 acquisition by Westinghouse) on January 3, 2006. Investors anticipated Viacom benefiting from the split, but instead, it dropped approximately 20 percent, while CBS Corporation rose 9 percent, that same year, Paramount Parks became a wholly-owned theme park unit of CBS Corporation.[9]
Subsequent developments
In January 2006, CBS and DIC Entertainment signed a multi-year deal in which DIC bought the Saturday morning airtime as "CBS's Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party". In June 2006, DiC added a production partner AOL's KOL. Thus, this block would be called "KOL's Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party on CBS".[10]
On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. created a new broadcast network, The CW. The network officially debuted on September 18, 2006. The network formally debuted on September 20 with the 2-hour premiere of America's Next Top Model. The network is the result of a merger of The WB (a Warner Bros. holding) and UPN (a CBS Corporation holding). CBS Corporation and Time Warner each owned 50% of the network. Tribune Broadcasting (which previously owned a 25% stake on The WB) and CBS Television Stations contributed its stations as new network affiliates.
On May 23, 2006, CBS Corporation sold Paramount Parks to the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. With this acquisition, Cedar Fair became the third-largest theme park operator.[11] On June 30, 2006, Cedar Fair completed its acquisition of Paramount Parks from CBS Corporation in a cash transaction valued at US$1.24 billion. The transaction included a 10-year license that allowed Cedar Fair to use the Paramount name in the parks through the 2017 season.[12]
On February 26, 2007, CBS began investing in Electric Sheep, which is a virtual world content developer. CBS hired Electric Sheep to develop some projects, including the creation of "The L-Word in Second Life". CBS also shot a commercial within the virtual world Second Life to promote its show Two and a Half Men. Another project that Electric Sheep was working on for CBS was a Star Trek-themed area in Second Life. By investing in Electric Sheep, CBS hoped to expand its activity "beyond the living room".[15] On March 20, CBS/CSTV had acquired MaxPreps, an online high school sports network.[16] On April 12, CBS Corporation created the CBS Interactive Audience Network.[17] On May 30, 2007, CBS Interactive bought Last.fm for £140 million.[18]
On May 15, 2008, CBS Interactive agreed to buy CNET Networks for $1.8 billion, with the deal due to close in the third quarter of 2008.[19] On July 2 CBS acquired CNET and put it under CBS Interactive.[20]
On February 14, 2013, CBS acquired a minority stake in AXS TV in exchange for programming and marketing.[21] On March 26, CBS and Lionsgate entered a 50/50 joint venture to operate the TV Guide Network (TVGN) and TVGuide.com.[22][23] On May 31, CBS bought the remaining half of TV Guide Digital from Lionsgate.[24] The latter still retained its share of TVGN (later rebranded as Pop) until it was acquired by CBS on March 12, 2019.[25] On July 16, CBS agreed to sell CBS Outdoor International to Platinum Equity for about $225 million.[26] The CBS Outdoor division began trading as a separate company on the NYSE under "CBSO" on March 28, 2014. CBS Outdoor would be fully divested from CBS by July into an independent real estate investment trust, renamed as Outfront Media.
On November 17, 2017, CBS Corporation sold CBS Radio to Entercom, making that company the second-largest owner of radio stations in the United States.[27][28]
In the same year, CBS purchased Australian broadcaster Network 10. The network was previously in voluntary administration.[29]
As of November 2018, CBS Corporation ranked 197th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.[30] CBS Corp. sold Television City to Los Angeles real estate investment company Hackman Capital Partners for $750 million in a deal finalized in mid-December 2018. The deal gives the buyer the right to use the Television City name. Programs produced at Television City will continue to be based there as will CBS' international unit headquarters.[31]
On September 29, 2016, National Amusements sent a letter to the company and Viacom, encouraging the two companies to merge back into one company.[32] On December 12, the deal was called off.[33]
On January 12, 2018, CNBC reported that Viacom had re-entered talks to merge back into CBS Corporation, after AT&T's purchase of Time Warner was planned and Disney's plan to acquire bulk of 21st Century Fox assets and the heavy competition from companies such as Netflix and Amazon.[34] Shortly afterward, it was reported that the combined company could be a suitor for acquiring the film studio Lionsgate (which handled US distribution and global sales for CBS Films).[35][36] A re-merger could benefit CBS's streaming service CBS All Access, as it could potentially have access to content from core Viacom brands such as Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon, as well as the Paramount Pictures library. Viacom's international presence could also benefit distribution.[37]
On March 30, 2018, CBS made an all-stock offer slightly below Viacom's market value and insisting that its existing leadership, including long-time chairman and CEO Les Moonves, oversee the re-combined company. Viacom rejected the offer as being too low, requesting an increase by $2.8 billion, and requesting that Bob Bakish be maintained as president and COO under Moonves. It was reported these conflicts had resulted from Shari Redstone seeking more control over CBS and its leadership.[38][39]
On May 23, 2018, Les Moonves stated that he considered the Viacom channels to be an "albatross," and while he favored more content for CBS All Access (now Paramount+), he believed that there were better deals for CBS than the Viacom deal, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate or Sony Pictures. Moonves also considered Bakish a threat as he never wanted an ally of Shari Redstone as a board member of the combined company.[43] Following Moonves' resignation due to sexual harassment allegations, National Amusements agreed in September 2018 to defer any proposal of a CBS-Viacom merger for at least two years after the date of the settlement with former CEO Moonves, donating $20 million to groups supporting the #MeToo movement as result of his resign.[44][45][46]
On May 30, 2019, CNBC reported that CBS Corporation and Viacom would explore merger discussions in mid-June 2019. The company's board of directors was revamped with people who are open to a merger and the talks were made possible with the resignation of Moonves, who opposed all attempts for a Viacom merger. The talks had started following rumors of CBS acquiring Starz from Lionsgate.[47] Reports said that CBS and Viacom reportedly set August 8 as an informal deadline for reaching an agreement to recombine the two media companies.[48][49] As part of the re-merger deal, CBS acquired Viacom for up to $15.4 billion.[50]
On August 13, 2019, CBS and Viacom agreed to merge into a new entity known as ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global), with Viacom CEO Bob Bakish as president and CEO of the new company and CBS CEO Ianniello as chairman and CEO of CBS and oversee CBS-branded assets. Shari Redstone will also serve as chairwoman of ViacomCBS.[5][51] On October 29, 2019, National Amusements approved the re-merger deal, to be completed by early December 2019, with the recombined company trading on Nasdaq under the symbol "VIAC" and "VIACA" after CBS delist its shares on the NYSE.[52] On December 4, the deal was completed, with the merger structured such that CBS Corporation absorbed Viacom and changed its name to ViacomCBS.[7][53]
^The Viacom-CBS split was structured in such a way that the first Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation, while the second Viacom was an entirely spun-off company. For this reason, the rechristened CBS Corporation was actually the same company (Viacom) that was founded in 1986. The 1986 Viacom, in turn, was the successor to a previous company also known as Viacom and founded in 1971.
^Tom McCarthy (September 10, 2018). "Les Moonves resigns from CBS after six more women accuse him of sexual harassment". The Guardian. Retrieved September 10, 2018. Moonves and CBS will donate $20m to one or more organisations that support the #MeToo movement and equality for women in the workplace. This donation was deducted from any severance benefits that may be due to Moonves following the investigation.
^"How a Merged CBS-Viacom Could Try to Compete with Hollywood Giants". The Hollywood Reporter. July 19, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019. CBS' plan to acquire Viacom for up to $15.4 billion could be announced Aug. 8, giving its controlling shareholder the ability to leverage IP like 'Star Trek' across film and TV to better compete with Disney, Netflix and the rest.
^"ViacomCBS Report on Form 10-K". Nasdaq. Retrieved March 15, 2020. On December 4, 2019, Viacom Inc. ("Viacom") merged with and into CBS Corporation ("CBS"), with CBS continuing as the surviving company (the "Merger"), pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated as of August 13, 2019, as amended on October 16, 2019 (the "Merger Agreement"). At the effective time of the Merger, we changed our name to "ViacomCBS Inc."
