ViacomCBS

On September 29, 2016, National Amusements, the parent company of CBS Corporation and Viacom, wrote to Viacom and CBS encouraging the two companies to merge back into one company.[7] On December 12, the deal was called off.[8]

On January 12, 2018, CNBC reported that Viacom had re-entered talks to merge back into CBS Corporation, after the merger of AT&T-Time Warner and The Walt Disney Company's proposed acquisition of most of the 21st Century Fox's assets were announced. Viacom and CBS also faced heavy competition from companies such as Netflix and Amazon.[9] Shortly afterward, it was reported that the combined company could be a suitor for acquiring the film studio Lionsgate.[10] Viacom and Lionsgate were both interested in acquiring The Weinstein Company.[11] Following the Weinstein effect, Viacom was listed as one of 22 potential buyers that were interested in acquiring TWC.[11] They lost the bid, and on March 1, 2018, it was announced that Maria Contreras-Sweet would acquire all of TWC's assets for $500 million.[12][13] Lantern Capital would later acquire the studio.

On March 30, 2018, CBS made an all-stock offer slightly below Viacom's market value, insisting that its existing leadership, including long-time chairman and CEO Les Moonves, oversee the re-combined company. Viacom rejected the offer as too low, requesting a $2.8 billion increase and that Bob Bakish be maintained as president and COO under Moonves. These conflicts had resulted from Shari Redstone seeking more control over CBS and its leadership.[14][15]

Eventually, on May 14, 2018, CBS Corporation sued its and Viacom's parent company National Amusements and accused Redstone of abusing her voting power in the company and forcing a merger that was not supported by it or Viacom.[16][17] CBS also accused Redstone of discouraging Verizon Communications from acquiring it, which could have been beneficial to its shareholders.[18]

On May 23, 2018, Les Moonves explained that he considered the Viacom channels to be an "albatross," and while he favored more content for CBS All Access, he believed that there were better deals for CBS than the Viacom deal, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate, or Sony Pictures. Moonves also considered Bakish a threat because he did not want an ally of Shari Redstone as a board member of the combined company.[19]

On September 9, 2018, Les Moonves exited CBS following multiple accusations of sexual assault. National Amusements agreed to make no proposal of a CBS-Viacom merger for at least two years after the date of the settlement.[20]

On May 30, 2019, CNBC reported that CBS Corporation and Viacom would explore merger discussions in mid-June 2019. CBS's board of directors was revamped with people who were open to merging; the re-merger was made possible with the resignation of Moonves, who had opposed all merger attempts. The talks had started following rumors of CBS acquiring Starz from Lionsgate.[21] Reports said that CBS and Viacom reportedly set August 8 as an informal deadline for reaching an agreement to recombine the two media companies.[22][23] CBS announced to acquire Viacom as part of the re-merger deal for up to $15.4 billion.[24]

On August 2, 2019, it was reported that CBS and Viacom agreed to merge back into one entity. Both companies came to an agreement on the management team for the merger, with Bob Bakish serving as CEO of the combined company with president and acting CEO of CBS, Joseph Ianniello, overseeing CBS-branded assets.[25] On August 7, 2019, CBS and Viacom separately reported their quarterly earnings as the talks about the re-merger continued.[26][27]

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.[28][29][30] 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.[30] The merger required approval by the Federal Trade Commission.[30]

On October 28, 2019, the merger was approved by National Amusements, which then announced the deal would close in early December; the recombined company will trade its shares on NASDAQ under the symbols "VIAC" and "VIACA" after CBS Corporation delist its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.[31][32]

On November 25, 2019, Viacom and CBS announced the merger would close on December 4 and begin trading on NASDAQ on next day.[33][34] On December 4, 2019, Bakish confirmed that the ViacomCBS merger had closed.[35]

On December 10, 2019, Bakish announced that ViacomCBS would look to divest Black Rock, the building that held CBS's headquarters since 1964. He stated, "Black Rock is not an asset we need to own and we believe that money would be put to better use elsewhere."[36] On December 20, 2019, ViacomCBS agreed to acquire a 49% minority stake in film studio Miramax from beIN Media Group for $379 million. As part of the purchase, Paramount Pictures reached a long-term deal for exclusive distribution rights to its library, and first-look agreements to co-develop new film and television projects based on Miramax-owned properties.[37]

On March 2, 2020, executive vice president Dana McClintock announced that he would depart the company after 27 years in CBS Communications.[38] On March 4, the company announced plans to potentially sell its Simon & Schuster publishing unit, with Bakish arguing that it lacked a "significant connection for our broader business.”[39]

On June 19, 2020, Jaime Ondarza, formerly the senior vice president of Turner Broadcasting South Europe and Africa, became the new head of ViacomCBS Networks International for France, Spain, Italy, the Middle East, Greece and Turkey.[40]

On August 4, 2020, ViacomCBS announced that the connected video advertising platform EyeQ is set to launch in this fall.[41]

On September 14, 2020, ViacomCBS announced an agreement to sell CNET Media Group to Red Ventures for $500 million. The deal will include the eponymous CNET tech site, as well as ZDNet, GameSpot, the TV Guide digital assets, Metacritic, and Chowhound.[42][43] The deal was closed on October 30, 2020.[44]

On November 17, 2020, Vivendi, Penguin Random House and HarperCollins had considered acquiring Simon & Schuster for as much as $1.7 billion. ViacomCBS expected the bids to be placed before Thanksgiving 2020 (November 26).[45] On November 25, 2020, Penguin Random House agreed to purchase Simon & Schuster for $2.175 billion, pending regulatory approval.[46]

ViacomCBS also maintains close unofficial links with the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group of Japan, because in Japan CBS News, Channel 5 and Network 10 have comprehensive agreements with Mitsui keiretsu member Tokyo Broadcasting System for newscasts and satellite relays; the former having entered their agreement with Tokyo Broadcasting System on September 20, 1991, before the original Viacom/CBS merger in 2000.