CBS Is Planning Offer for Sister Company Viacom

By WSJ City

CBS is preparing to make an offer for sister media company Viacom in the coming weeks, following a meeting of CBS directors last week in which a potential deal was discussed, according to people familiar with the situation.

KEY FACTS

--- Representatives of the firms have already had preliminary discussions about a deal, one of the people said.

--- If the companies move ahead with talks, it would be a third attempt to reunite the $30bn empire.

--- It was divided by mogul Sumner Redstone more than 13 years ago.A deal is far from certain.

--- Determining a price is one major hurdle.

--- Viacom CEO Bob Bakish is thought by people familiar to be favourite to become CEO of the combined company.

Why This Matters

Shari Redstone, vice chairman of both companies, believes that CBS and Viacom would be better positioned to compete with larger rivals as one company. She is president of National Amusements, which controls both CBS and Viacom.

Viacom has been the weaker of the two companies over the past several years, having suffered as cable-TV cord-cutting pulled down ratings for its major networks. A merger with CBS would give Viacom greater scale and more leverage in negotiations with advertisers and cable-TV providers.

A fuller story is available on WSJ.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 19, 2019 08:27 ET (12:27 GMT)

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