Viacom
:''This page is about the post-2005 Viacom. For the company known as Viacom prior to 2006 (and now known as
CBS Corporation), see
Viacom (1971-2005).
Viacom is an
American-based
media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in
cable and
satellite television networks (
MTV Networks and
BET),
video gaming (part of
Sega of America), and
movie production and distribution (the
Paramount Pictures movie studio and
DreamWorks).
Tom Freston is the
President and
Chief Executive Officer;
Sumner Redstone is the
Chairman and, through
National Amusements, majority
shareholder of Viacom. The new Viacom is considered to be the "high-growth" side of the much larger former Viacom. The former Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation, from which this firm was split off in 2006.
In March 2005, the
prior Viacom (now known as
CBS Corporation) announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies. The company was not only dealing with a stagnating stock price, but also the rivalry between
Leslie Moonves and
Tom Freston, longtime heads of
CBS and
MTV Networks respectively. After the departure of
Mel Karmazin in
2004, Redstone, who served as
Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer, decided to split the offices of
President and
Chief Operating Officer between Moonves and Freston. Redstone was set to retire in the near future, and a split would be a creative solution to the matter of replacing him.
The split was approved by Viacom's board
June 14, 2005, approved
December 31, 2005, and effectively undid the Viacom/CBS merger of 1999. The original Viacom changed its name to
CBS Corporation and is headed by Moonves. It now includes Viacom's "slow growth businesses", namely
CBS,
UPN (Which will merge with
The WB in the 2006-07 television season, forming
The CW Network),
CBS Radio,
Simon & Schuster,
Viacom Outdoor,
Showtime, and most television production assets. These, according to some analysts, were suffocating the growth of the MTV Networks cable businesses. (The split was structured such that CBS Corporation is actually the company previously known as Viacom.) At the time of the split, CBS Corporation also was also given control of
Paramount Parks. CBS sold Paramount Parks to
amusement parks management company
Cedar Fair, L.P. on June 30, 2006.
A new company, the present Viacom, was also spun-off and is headed by Freston. It is comprised of MTV Networks, BET Networks, Paramount's movie studio, and Paramount Pictures' home entertainment operations. These businesses are categorized as the high-growth businesses (MTV Networks and BET Networks in particular), and if they were split into a separate company, it could infuse new capital to allow for future acquisitions and expansion. Sumner Redstone still controls 71 percent of the voting stock of both companies and is the chairman of both companies.
In June
2005, Viacom announced its purchase of
Neopets, a virtual pet website. That December, Paramount announced it would acquire
DreamWorks. All indications are that the whole of DreamWorks - both film and TV studios, albeit not the DreamWorks archive, which was sold to a group led by
George Soros in March 2006 - will remain owned by Viacom, even though CBS acquired Paramount's own TV studio. On
February 1,
2006, Paramount completed its long-awaited acquisition of DreamWorks, welcoming them to the Viacom family. As of April 24, 2006, Viacom has obtained
Xfire.
The new Viacom still uses the moniker
Viacom International Inc., which was previously used by the old Viacom, on its copyright notices on Viacom's corporate website and its cable networks.
In August 2006, just hours before announcing its most recent quarterly earnings, Viacom announced that it had acquired Atom Entertainment for $200 million. This deal came after a barrage of online acquisitions, including NeoPets, iFilm and XFire.
The previous
board of directors of Viacom were
George Abrams,
Vincent Erazo,
David Andelman,
Joseph Califano, Jr.,
William Cohen,
Philippe Dauman,
Alan Greenberg,
Charles Phillips,
Shari Redstone,
Sumner Redstone,
Frederic Salerno,
William Schwartz, and
Robert D. Walter.
Following the Viacom/CBS split, the Viacom board consisted of
George Abrams,
Philippe Dauman,
Thomas E. Dooley,
Tom Freston,
Ellen V. Futter,
Robert Kraft,
Alan Greenberg,
Charles Phillips,
Sumner Redstone (Chairman),
Shari Redstone (non-executive Vice-Chair),
Frederic Salerno, and
William Schwartz.
This is a summary of the main Viacom divisions. For detailed assets see List of assets owned by Viacom.*
Film Production and Distribution:
Paramount Pictures,
DreamWorks,
Republic Pictures*
Television Networks:
MTV Networks (including
MTV,
Nickelodeon,
Comedy Central,
VH1,
CMT,
Spike TV and others);
BET*
Television Production and Television Distribution:
DreamWorks Television*
Video Gaming:
Sega of America,
Xfire*
Closing logos of Viacom*
Viacom (1971-2005)*
Viacom website*
Ketupa.net - Viacom*
Viacom information by
Hoover's*
Viacom profile by
Yahoo!*
Split documentation -
SEC filing on Form S-4 from
October 5,
2005 describing the split.
