The merger between CBS and Viacom is officially complete. The two companies came together once again to seal the deal on Wednesday, four months after the boards of both parties agreed to an all stock-swap transaction. They previously merged in 2000 before eventually splitting in 2006.
This new deal sees Viacom’s Paramount Pictures and subsequent cable channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and BET, come together with CBS’ broadcast network, Showtime, 28 O&O TV stations, CBS All Access, as well as Simon & Schuster. The new combined company is led by Viacom CEO Bob Bakish, who told Variety, "I can’t wait to get on with this. It’s been a long and winding road to get here. It’s an incredible collection of assets."
With the media landscape having evolved so drastically over the years with the rise of streaming services, Bakish remains confident in the newly merged company’s ability to compete for viewers’ attention. ViacomCBS is expected to generate annual revenue of approximately $28 billion and it has to its name the rights to 140,0000 episodes of TV and more than 3,600 movies, which equates to about 22% of all television content in the U.S.
"We have an extraordinary opportunity to create value for a whole range of constituencies," Bakish said. "We have a tremendous library and ongoing production that we can deliver for our owned platforms and third-party buyers. We are setting up the organization of the company to enable us to leverage every asset we have."