CBS and Viacom have come to an agreement to reunited the two companies for the first time since their 2005 split. The deal would create a combined content company valued at $30 billion. The new company will be known as ViacomCBS.
Shari Redstone, daughter of Summer Redstone, who split up the two firms in 2006, is currently a vice chairman of both companies and is expected to become chairman of the board of the combined company, people close to the discussions said. (Via The Wall Street Journal)
Viacom CEO Bob Bakish will serve as CEO of ViacomCBS. Joe Ianniello will become chairman-CEO of CBS, he has served as the acting CEO of CBS for the past year.
CBS, which already has a “CBS All Access” streaming service, will now have Viacom’s catalog of content to stream. The merger between the two media giants comes as the media and content industry continues to make the move from broadcast networks to streaming networks.
Once the deal is final, ViacomCBS will control a large number of major television and content brands, including MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, VH1, Paramount Pictures, CBS broadcast network, Showtime, Pop, CBS’ 50% stake of CW, Simon & Schuster, and 28 local CBS stations.
In total, ViacomCBS says it will have the ability to offer a library of over 140,000 TV episodes and more than 3,600 movies.
This library comprises 140,000+ TV episodes and 3,600+ film titles, and reunites fan-favorite franchises such as Star Trek and Mission: Impossible. The combined company will also have more than 750 series currently ordered to or in production. In addition, it will include a major Hollywood film studio, Paramount Pictures, which creates and distributes feature-length entertainment around the world.
The combined company will also be one of the largest content spenders, with more than $13 billion spent in the last 12 months.
The full announcement of the merger is available here (PDF).