After days of negotiations, CBS Corp. has reached an agreement to acquire Viacom which will now take on the name ViacomCBS Inc. CBS and Viacom announced the agreement Tuesday after more than 48 hours of intense final negotiations between the boards of both companies.
The all-stock deal values Viacom at around its current market cap of $11.7 billion. Viacom shareholders will receive .59625 shares of CBS Corp. for every Viacom share. The deal is expected to be fully closed by year’s end and the combined company will have about $28 billion in revenue.
Together the companies have around 140,000 episodes and 750 TV series (425 domestic, 325 international) along with 3,600 film titles. Its combined platforms account for 22% of all television viewing in the United States, ahead of Comcast (18%) and Disney (14%).
The new deal will bring together CBS, CBS Television Studios, CBS Interactive, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Network, Showtime, MTV, Pop, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, VH1, 50% ownership of The CW, numerous local television stations, publisher Simon & Schuster, UK Channel 5, Argentina’s Telefe, and Australia’s Network 10.
The merger reunites the “Star Trek” film and TV franchises which had been divided between the two companies.
