Sumner Redstone's National Amusements to Call on Viacom and CBS to Explore Merger--2nd Update
29 September 2016 - 2:28AM
Dow Jones News
By Keach Hagey
National Amusements Inc., the controlling shareholder of Viacom
Inc. and CBS Corp., is set to call for the media companies to
consider a merger, according to a person familiar with the
matter.
National Amusements, which is controlled by Sumner Redstone and
has nearly 80% voting stakes in both companies, is preparing a
letter it plans to send to the boards as soon as this week, the
person said.
Such a move would come after Mr. Redstone's daughter, Shari
Redstone, rose to power in her father's $40 billion empire after a
bruising power struggle that played out this summer. She is
president of National Amusements and is set to wield great
influence over the family's holdings when Mr. Redstone, who is 93
and ailing, dies.
A CBS-Viacom deal would be a reunion. Viacom acquired CBS in
2000 and the companies split in 2006.
For Viacom, the deal would come at a moment of great
vulnerability, as the company struggles with underperforming assets
like its Paramount Pictures studio and a cable networks group that
includes MTV and Comedy Central. That has led to a major slide in
the company's stock price.
A merger could potentially provide a strong leader for Viacom in
the form of CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, a favorite of media investors.
Viacom announced last week that its interim CEO, Tom Dooley, was
planning to leave in November.
Mr. Moonves, however, has previously expressed skepticism about
a merger of the companies, and he said at a recent investor
conference that there were no active talks between CBS and
Viacom.
Write to Keach Hagey at keach.hagey@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 28, 2016 12:13 ET (16:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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