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On December 31, 2005, American mass media companyViacom split into two companies: the secondCBS Corporation, its successor (the first being a short lived rename ofWestinghouse Electric) which held the namesake flagship channelCBS,CBS News,CBS Sports,Showtime Networks,UPN (which latermerged withThe WB to formthe CW, co-owned byTime Warner),Smithsonian Channel,Simon and Schuster,Infinity Broadcasting Corporation,Viacom Outdoor, andParamount Television, and an entirely newViacom which heldParamount Pictures,Nickelodeon,Nick Jr.,Noggin,Nicktoons,TEENick,Music Television,Black Entertainment Television,Video Hits One,Country Music Television, and laterDreamWorks, respectively. It was first announced in March 2005. The companies were controlled underNational Amusements' control because of a stagnating stock price.[1]
They would laterre-merge intoViacomCBS, later Paramount Global, which would merge withSkydance Media to becomeParamount Skydance.
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| 1886 | Westinghouse Electric Corporation is founded as Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company |
|---|---|
| 1912 | Famous Players Film Company is founded |
| 1913 | Lasky Feature Play Company is founded |
| 1914 | Paramount Pictures is founded |
| 1916 | Famous Players and Lasky merge asFamous Players–Lasky and acquire Paramount |
| 1927 | Famous Players–Lasky is renamed Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation;CBS is founded with investment fromColumbia Records |
| 1929 | Paramount acquires 49% of CBS |
| 1930 | Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation is renamed Paramount Publix Corporation |
| 1932 | Paramount sells back its shares of CBS |
| 1934 | Gulf+Western is founded as the Michigan Bumper Corporation |
| 1935 | Paramount Publix Corporation is renamed Paramount Pictures |
| 1936 | National Amusements is founded as Northeast Theater Corporation |
| 1938 | CBS acquires Columbia Records |
| 1950 | Desilu is founded and CBS distributes its television programs |
| 1952 | CBS creates the CBS Television Film Sales division |
| 1958 | CBS Television Film Sales is renamed CBS Films |
| 1966 | Gulf+Western acquires Paramount |
| 1967 | Gulf+Western acquires Desilu and renames itParamount Television (nowCBS Studios) |
| 1968 | CBS Films is renamed CBS Enterprises |
| 1970 | CBS Enterprises is renamedViacom |
| 1971 | Viacom is spun off from CBS |
| 1987 | National Amusements acquires Viacom |
| 1988 | CBS sells Columbia Records toSony |
| 1989 | Gulf+Western is renamedParamount Communications |
| 1994 | Viacom acquires Paramount Communications |
| 1995 | Paramount Television andUnited Television launchUPN; Westinghouse acquires CBS |
| 1997 | Westinghouse is renamedCBS Corporation |
| 2000 | Viacom acquires UPN and CBS Corporation |
| 2005 | Viacomsplits into the secondCBS Corporation andViacom |
| 2006 | Skydance Media is founded as Skydance Productions; CBS Corporationshuts down UPN and replaces it withThe CW |
| 2009 | Paramount and Skydance enter an agreement to co-produce and co-finance films |
| 2017 | CBS Corporation sellsCBS Radio to Entercom (nowAudacy) |
| 2019 | CBS Corporation and Viacomre-merge as ViacomCBS |
| 2022 | ViacomCBS is renamedParamount Global |
| 2025 | Skydance acquires National Amusements andmerges with Paramount Global asParamount Skydance |
In 1952, CBS formedCBS Television Film Sales, a division which handled syndication rights for CBS's library of network-owned television series. This division was renamed CBS Films in 1958, again renamed CBS Enterprises in January 1968, and finally renamedViacom (an acronym of Video and Audio Communications) in 1970. In 1971, this syndication division wasspun off amid newFCC rules forbidding television networks fromowning syndication companies (these rules were eventually abolished completely in 1993).[2] In 1985, Viacom purchasedMTV Networks andShowtime/The Movie Channel Inc. fromWarner Communications andAmerican Express.[3] In 1987, Viacom was acquired by theater operator companyNational Amusements.[4] In 1999, Viacom made its biggest acquisition to date by announcing plans to merge with its former parent CBS Corporation (the renamedWestinghouse Electric Corporation, which had merged with CBS in 1995). The merger was completed in 2000, resulting in CBS reuniting with its former syndication division.
After the departure ofMel Karmazin in 2004,[5]Sumner Redstone, who served as chairman and chief executive officer, decided to split the offices of president and chief operating officer between Moonves and Freston.[5] Redstone was set to retire in the near future, and a split was seen as a creative solution to the matter of replacing him.[5] It was also intended to provide alternative investments that would be more appealing to investors: one a high cash flow, lower growth company that could afford to pay a substantial dividend and the other a growing company that would have greater investment opportunities and therefore would not be expected to pay a dividend.
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 theSuper Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy a year previous with theMTV-produced show causing controversy for game broadcasterCBS.
On June 14, 2005, the Viacom board of directors approved the split of the company into two firms.[6] The CBS Corporation name would be revived for one of the companies, to be headed by longtime television executive (and Viacom co-president)Les Moonves, and would include the namesake television networkCBS,UPN,Infinity Broadcasting Corporation,Viacom Outdoor,Showtime Networks, andParamount Television.
The split was structured such thatthe 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.
CBS said: "In many ways, today's decision is a natural extension of the path we laid out in creating Viacom," Redstone said in a company-wide memo. "We are retaining the significant advantages we captured in the Paramount and CBS mergers and, at the same time, recognizing the need to adapt to a changing competitive environment."[7]
With the split, the two companies began trading on theNew York Stock Exchange (NYSE) 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.[8]
The second Viacom was created by Redstone and headed by Freston. It consisted ofBET Networks,MTV Networks, andParamount Pictures.[9] It started trading on January 3, 2006.[10]
Despite the split, both companies are controlled byNational Amusements.
On August 13, 2019, CBS and Viacom officially announced their merger; the combined company was to be named ViacomCBS, with Shari Redstone serving as chair.[11][12][13] Upon the merger agreement, Viacom and CBS jointly announced that the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.[13] The merger required approval by theFederal Trade Commission (FTC).[13]
On October 28, 2019, the merger was approved by National Amusements, which then announced the deal would close in early December; the recombined company trades its shares onNasdaq under the symbols "VIAC" and "VIACA" after CBS Corporation delisted its shares on theNew York Stock Exchange (NYSE).[14][15]
In November 1985, Viacom acquired MTV for $326 million in cash and warrants. One-third of MTV was publicly owned; the rest was owned by Warner Communications and the American Express Company. At the same time, Viacom bought 50 percent of Showtime, the pay television service, that it did not already own for $184 million.