CBS & Viacom To Merge

Another major merger is coming in 2019, and this time it’s CBS and Viacom.

CBS and Viacom were once part of the same company, and now the two are set to rejoin forces in a $30 billion deal.

The two major media corporations are preparing for a merger to be better able to face the challenges of the transforming entertainment industry. The entertainment industry’s recent developments have seen many massive mergers pushed through recently. Most of these mergers seem to have taken place so that companies can combine their resources, particularly their intellectual property rights, to be able to compete in the new world of entertainment.

CBS will be buying Viacom in an all-stock transaction, with Viacom being valued at its stock market capitalization of about $12 billion. The market value of CBS is $18 billion, so the two will each see a massive change. The two companies combined will be worth almost $30 billion and will have the eyes of about 22% of the American TV viewing audience, according to the two companies. CBS brings the most firepower to the table, with 15 TV stations viewable via the most viewed television networks in the US. Viacom also brings some serious viewership to the table, as the company owns Comedy Central, BET, and MTV, as well as Paramount.

The two companies were actually together from 1999 until their breakup in 2005. After another 14 years, the couple will be back together. The combined forces of CBS and Viacom will actually be less valuable than they were last time they were together, as TV broadcasting hasn’t been doing so well recently. Regardless, the two will be joining forces to be more competitive in the brutal entertainment industry of 2019.

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5 years ago
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