The Redstone family media empire has been reunited after more than a decade apart.
CBS ($CBS) and Viacom ($VIA) announced they reached an agreement to merge, with Viacom shareholders receiving nearly 0.6 CBS shares for each Viacom share they own. That values Viacom at slightly less than $12 billion.
“Today marks an important day for CBS and Viacom, as we unite our complementary assets and capabilities and become one of only a few companies with the breadth and depth of content and reach to shape the future of our industry," said Bob Bakish, president and CEO of Viacom, who will hold both titles in the combined company.
The deal represents a coming together of two disparate arms of the vast media holdings owned and controlled by Sumner Redstone and his daughter, Shari — who will be the vice chair of the CBS and Viacom board of directors — under the umbrella of the privately held National Amusements. And it's another indication that, with streaming increasingly becoming the go-to choice for consumers, media conglomerates need to seriously consider combining in order to compete with behemoths like Netflix ($NFLX), AT&T ($T), and Disney ($DIS).
“I am really excited to see these two great companies come together so that they can realize the incredible power of their combined assets," said Shari Redstone. "My father once said ‘content is king,’ and never has that been more true than today.
It is possible that a combined CBS-Viacom will now seek to buy smaller media players to make itself even bigger. Recode reported that some of the names that could become acquisition targets include Discovery-Scripps and Starz-Lionsgate. It is unlikely that CBS-Viacom could itself become an acquisition target, given how potential acquirers almost all have their hands full with their own big purchases. And for tech giants like Apple ($AAPL) and Amazon ($AMZN) looking to gain more of a foothold in content and distribution, the regulatory environment may prove too hard to navigate.
A merger of CBS and Viacom brings brands like MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount movie studio, and the revered CBS broadcast network under one roof for the first time since Redstone split it up in 2006. Bringing the two companies back together has long been a goal of Shari Redstone, who controls the company with Sumner, the aging family patriarch who has faced numerous health issues. A merger was adamantly opposed by Leslie Moonves, the former powerful chair of CBS who was brought down in a sexual harassment scandal last year. With Moonves and his allies on the CBS board out, Redstone moved aggressively to reignite merger discussions, according to reports.
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