Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) (NYSE: VIAB)(NYSE: VNV), short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television. As of 2010, it is the world's fourth-largest media conglomerate, behind The Walt Disney Company, Time Warner and News Corporation.
The current Viacom was created on December 31, 2005 as a spinoff from CBS Corporation, which changed its name from Viacom to CBS at the same time. CBS, not Viacom, retains control of the over-the-air broadcasting, TV production, outdoor advertising, subscription pay television (Showtime) and publishing assets (Simon & Schuster) formerly owned by the larger company. However, National Amusements, through Sumner Redstone, retains majority control of Viacom. Predecessor firms of CBS Corporation include Gulf + Western, which later became Paramount Communications Inc., and Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
Comprising BET Networks, MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures, Viacom connects with audiences through television, motion pictures, mobile platforms and online in more than 160 countries and territories. Viacom operates approximately 170 media networks reaching more than 600 million global subscribers and more than 500 branded digital media properties.
One of the largest media companies in the world, Viacom Inc. operates numerous subsidiaries in six segments: cable networks; television; radio; outdoor; entertainment; and video. Well known to cable viewers are MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Night, VH1, and Showtime. Television holdings include the CBS and UPN television networks, King World Productions, and Paramount Television. Infinity Radio owns and operates a wealth of radio stations. The entertainment segment includes: Paramount Pictures, a producer and distributor of motion pictures since 1912; venerable publisher Simon & Schuster; and Paramount Parks' theme attractions. Viacom Outdoor is engaged in display advertising. Blockbuster Inc. operates and franchises video stores around the globe.
Viacom Inc. (Viacom) is an entertainment content company. The Company engages audiences on television, motion picture, Internet and mobile platforms through many of the world’s entertainment brands. it manages its operations through two reporting segments: Media Networks and Filmed Entertainment. Its Media Networks segment provides entertainment content for consumers in demographics attractive to advertisers, content distributors and retailers. Its Filmed Entertainment segment produces, finances and distributes motion pictures and other entertainment content under the Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies brands.
Media Networks
The Company’s media networks, MTV Networks and BET Networks, operate their program services, Websites and other digital media services in the United States and internationally. MTV Networks consists of four groups: the Music and Logo Group, the Kids and Family Group, the Entertainment Group and International. MTV Networks reaches approximately 635 million households in more than 160 countries and territories worldwide via its approximately 170 channels and multiplatform properties, which include MTV, VH1, CMT, PalladiaHD, Logo, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, Spike TV, TV Land and Atom.
MTV Networks also has a casual games business that includes Websites such as AddictingGames.com and Shockwave.com. BET Networks is a provider of entertainment, music, news and public affairs programming targeted to the African-American audience, and its channels and properties, which include BET and CENTRIC, can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Africa and the Middle East. BET Networks’ businesses include BET, CENTRIC, BET International and BET Digital.
The Music and Logo Group includes our music-oriented program services and digital properties. Some of its properties in this group include MTV, MTV2, MTV Digital, VH1, VH1 Classic, VH1 Digital, CMT and CMT Digital, and Logo and Logo Digital. The Kids and Family Group provides entertainment and educational programs, websites and online services targeted to kids ages 2-17 and their families. Some of its properties in this group include Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite, Nick.com, Nick Jr. and NickJr.com, TeenNick and TeenNick.com, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon Virtual Worlds, ParentsConnect.com, and Nickelodeon Kids and Family Games.
The Entertainment Group produces and distributes programming and online content and games, which target adult and male audiences. Some of its properties in this group include Comedy Central, Comedycentral.com, Spike TV, SPIKE.com and TV Land. BET Networks owns and operates program services, including its flagship BET channel, CENTRIC, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop.
Filmed Entertainment
Paramount acquires films for distribution and has agreements in place to distribute and provide fulfillment services for films produced by DreamWorks Animation and Marvel. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010 (fiscal 2010), the Filmed Entertainment segment released in domestic and/or international markets Marvel’s Iron Man 2, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek Forever After, Shutter Island, The Last Airbender, Dinner for Schmucks and She’s Out of My League. Paramount has a library consisting of approximately 1,100 motion picture titles produced by Paramount and acquired rights to approximately 2,200 additional motion pictures and a small number of television programs. The library includes Titanic, Braveheart, Forrest Gump, An Inconvenient Truth, There Will Be Blood and such classics as The Ten Commandments, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Sunset Boulevard, as well as franchises, such as Indiana Jones, Transformers, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible and The Godfather.
Home entertainment releases in fiscal 2010, included Marvel’s Iron Man 2, Shutter Island, The Lovely Bones, Up In the Air and She’s Out of My League. Paramount also distributes home entertainment products for Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, CBS Corporation and select PBS programs. Paramount licenses the films it releases to video-on-demand, subscription video-on-demand, pay and basic cable television, broadcast television and syndication worldwide. Paramount develops and distributes filmed entertainment original content for launch on new media platforms internationally.
In 1999, Redstone held about $9 billion worth of Viacom shares. The company's stock had outshined rivals Time Warner, Disney, and News Corp. That year, Viacom announced plans to buy out CBS Corporation for $37 billion in stock. The heydays of network television were in the past. CBS's cash flow for the year would come from cable, radio, stations, and billboards. Cable ranked first among profitable segments of the entertainment business during the decade, with radio close behind.
CBS had made an early stab into cable in 1981, but the effort tanked. The "Tiffany Network" steered away from the medium after that while its direct competitors, ABC, NBC, and Fox, made inroads. The tide turned thanks to CEO Mel Karmazin and his predecessor Michael Jordan. "Not until 1997 did Jordan and Karmazin lead CBS back into cable by buying two music channels, the Nashville Network and County Music Television, for $1.5 billion," Marc Gunther wrote for Fortune.
Redstone had his eye on those channels and proposed an exchange of Viacom television stations for the country channels. But Karmazin convinced Redstone of the synergistic benefits of merging the two media giants and the deal was completed in May 2000. Redstone relinquished "effective operating control" of the merged company to Karmazin, according to the Wall Street Journal in 2003. Wall Street applauded the move, respectful of Karmazin's record in financial management and operational details as head of CBS.
But a few years down the road, it became less and less likely that Karmazin would succeed Redstone. Not only did the pair have an uneasy relationship, but Karmazin failed to meet earnings targets from 2001 to 2003. Moreover, Redstone wanted back some of the power he had relinquished.
Despite the three-year deal they arrived at in 2003, in June 2004 Karmazin resigned.
Redstone named MTV's Tom Freston and CBS's Leslie Moonves co-presidents, setting up a competition between them for his heir apparent.
Television, radio, and outdoor segments reported to Moonves and cable networks, entertainment, and video, to Freston. Television had produced 29 percent of Viacom's 2003 consolidated revenues; followed by video, 22 percent; cable networks, 21 percent; entertainment, 15 percent; radio, 8 percent; and outdoor, 5 percent.
Significantly, Redstone was prepared to finally step down as CEO, something he said he would do within the next three years. Gunther wrote for Fortune, "Until now the 81-year-old Redstone had stubbornly refused to set a date for his retirement. No one can force him out, because he controls 71% of the shareholder votes at $27 billion-a-year Viacom."
Principal Subsidiaries: Blockbuster Videos, Inc.; Paramount Pictures; Paramount Home Entertainment; Simon & Schuster; MTV Networks; Showtime Networks Inc.; VH1 Inc.; BET; The CBS Television Network; United Paramount Network; Infinity Broadcasting; Paramount Television; Paramount Parks.
Principal Competitors: News Corp.; Time Warner; Walt Disney.
OVERALL
Beta: 1.26
Market Cap (Mil.): $29,652.50
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 585.12
Annual Dividend: 0.60
Yield (%): 1.20
FINANCIALS
VIAb.N Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): 15.74 15.91 21.66
EPS (TTM): 27.73 -- --
ROI: 10.63 7.18 1.89
ROE: 21.15 12.47 2.88
Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1971
Employees: 122,770
Sales: $26.6 billion (2003)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: VIA
NAIC: 5152210 Cable & Other Subscription Programming; 512110 Motion Picture and Video Production; 518111 Internet Services Providers; 532230 Video Tape and Disc Rental; 511130 Book Publishers: 551112 Offices of Other Holding Companies; 713110 Amusement and Theme Parks
Key Dates:
1970: Viacom is formed by the Central Broadcasting System (CBS).
1971: Formally made a separate company, Viacom becomes one of the largest cable firms in the United States.
1973: Fragmentation in the cable industry inhibits growth.
1976: Company establishes Showtime movie network to compete with Home Box Office (HBO).
1981: Company invests $65 million in cable infrastructure.
1985: Company purchases MTV Networks.
1986: Debt-weakened Viacom is purchased by Sumner M. Redstone.
1989: Viacom files lawsuit against HBO.
1994: Company purchases Paramount and Blockbuster.
1996: Viacom spins off cable systems.
2000: Viacom buys CBS Corporation.
2004: Redstone announces intention to step down as CEO.
Name Age Since Current Position
Sumner Redstone 87 2006 Executive Chairman of the Board
Philippe Dauman 57 2006 President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Shari Redstone 57 2006 Non-Executive Vice Chairman of the Board
James Barge 55 2010 Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Robert Bakish 47 2011 President and Chief Executive Officer - Viacom International Media Networks
Thomas Dooley 54 2010 Chief Operating Officer, Senior Executive Vice President, Director
Michael Fricklas 50 2006 Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary
Denise White 56 2007 Executive Vice President - Human Resources and Administration
Carl Folta 53 2006 Executive Vice President - Corporate Communications
DeDe Lea 46 2006 Executive Vice President - Government Relations
Katherine Gill-Charest 46 2010 Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, Controller
George Abrams 78 2006 Director
Alan Greenberg 83 2006 Independent Director
Robert Kraft 69 2006 Independent Director
Charles Phillips 51 2006 Independent Director
Frederic Salerno 67 2006 Independent Director
William Schwartz 77 2006 Independent Director
Blythe McGarvie 54 2007 Independent Director
Address:
1515 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
U.S.A.
The current Viacom was created on December 31, 2005 as a spinoff from CBS Corporation, which changed its name from Viacom to CBS at the same time. CBS, not Viacom, retains control of the over-the-air broadcasting, TV production, outdoor advertising, subscription pay television (Showtime) and publishing assets (Simon & Schuster) formerly owned by the larger company. However, National Amusements, through Sumner Redstone, retains majority control of Viacom. Predecessor firms of CBS Corporation include Gulf + Western, which later became Paramount Communications Inc., and Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
Comprising BET Networks, MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures, Viacom connects with audiences through television, motion pictures, mobile platforms and online in more than 160 countries and territories. Viacom operates approximately 170 media networks reaching more than 600 million global subscribers and more than 500 branded digital media properties.
One of the largest media companies in the world, Viacom Inc. operates numerous subsidiaries in six segments: cable networks; television; radio; outdoor; entertainment; and video. Well known to cable viewers are MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Night, VH1, and Showtime. Television holdings include the CBS and UPN television networks, King World Productions, and Paramount Television. Infinity Radio owns and operates a wealth of radio stations. The entertainment segment includes: Paramount Pictures, a producer and distributor of motion pictures since 1912; venerable publisher Simon & Schuster; and Paramount Parks' theme attractions. Viacom Outdoor is engaged in display advertising. Blockbuster Inc. operates and franchises video stores around the globe.
Viacom Inc. (Viacom) is an entertainment content company. The Company engages audiences on television, motion picture, Internet and mobile platforms through many of the world’s entertainment brands. it manages its operations through two reporting segments: Media Networks and Filmed Entertainment. Its Media Networks segment provides entertainment content for consumers in demographics attractive to advertisers, content distributors and retailers. Its Filmed Entertainment segment produces, finances and distributes motion pictures and other entertainment content under the Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies brands.
Media Networks
The Company’s media networks, MTV Networks and BET Networks, operate their program services, Websites and other digital media services in the United States and internationally. MTV Networks consists of four groups: the Music and Logo Group, the Kids and Family Group, the Entertainment Group and International. MTV Networks reaches approximately 635 million households in more than 160 countries and territories worldwide via its approximately 170 channels and multiplatform properties, which include MTV, VH1, CMT, PalladiaHD, Logo, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, Spike TV, TV Land and Atom.
MTV Networks also has a casual games business that includes Websites such as AddictingGames.com and Shockwave.com. BET Networks is a provider of entertainment, music, news and public affairs programming targeted to the African-American audience, and its channels and properties, which include BET and CENTRIC, can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Africa and the Middle East. BET Networks’ businesses include BET, CENTRIC, BET International and BET Digital.
The Music and Logo Group includes our music-oriented program services and digital properties. Some of its properties in this group include MTV, MTV2, MTV Digital, VH1, VH1 Classic, VH1 Digital, CMT and CMT Digital, and Logo and Logo Digital. The Kids and Family Group provides entertainment and educational programs, websites and online services targeted to kids ages 2-17 and their families. Some of its properties in this group include Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite, Nick.com, Nick Jr. and NickJr.com, TeenNick and TeenNick.com, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon Virtual Worlds, ParentsConnect.com, and Nickelodeon Kids and Family Games.
The Entertainment Group produces and distributes programming and online content and games, which target adult and male audiences. Some of its properties in this group include Comedy Central, Comedycentral.com, Spike TV, SPIKE.com and TV Land. BET Networks owns and operates program services, including its flagship BET channel, CENTRIC, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop.
Filmed Entertainment
Paramount acquires films for distribution and has agreements in place to distribute and provide fulfillment services for films produced by DreamWorks Animation and Marvel. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010 (fiscal 2010), the Filmed Entertainment segment released in domestic and/or international markets Marvel’s Iron Man 2, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek Forever After, Shutter Island, The Last Airbender, Dinner for Schmucks and She’s Out of My League. Paramount has a library consisting of approximately 1,100 motion picture titles produced by Paramount and acquired rights to approximately 2,200 additional motion pictures and a small number of television programs. The library includes Titanic, Braveheart, Forrest Gump, An Inconvenient Truth, There Will Be Blood and such classics as The Ten Commandments, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Sunset Boulevard, as well as franchises, such as Indiana Jones, Transformers, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible and The Godfather.
Home entertainment releases in fiscal 2010, included Marvel’s Iron Man 2, Shutter Island, The Lovely Bones, Up In the Air and She’s Out of My League. Paramount also distributes home entertainment products for Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, CBS Corporation and select PBS programs. Paramount licenses the films it releases to video-on-demand, subscription video-on-demand, pay and basic cable television, broadcast television and syndication worldwide. Paramount develops and distributes filmed entertainment original content for launch on new media platforms internationally.
In 1999, Redstone held about $9 billion worth of Viacom shares. The company's stock had outshined rivals Time Warner, Disney, and News Corp. That year, Viacom announced plans to buy out CBS Corporation for $37 billion in stock. The heydays of network television were in the past. CBS's cash flow for the year would come from cable, radio, stations, and billboards. Cable ranked first among profitable segments of the entertainment business during the decade, with radio close behind.
CBS had made an early stab into cable in 1981, but the effort tanked. The "Tiffany Network" steered away from the medium after that while its direct competitors, ABC, NBC, and Fox, made inroads. The tide turned thanks to CEO Mel Karmazin and his predecessor Michael Jordan. "Not until 1997 did Jordan and Karmazin lead CBS back into cable by buying two music channels, the Nashville Network and County Music Television, for $1.5 billion," Marc Gunther wrote for Fortune.
Redstone had his eye on those channels and proposed an exchange of Viacom television stations for the country channels. But Karmazin convinced Redstone of the synergistic benefits of merging the two media giants and the deal was completed in May 2000. Redstone relinquished "effective operating control" of the merged company to Karmazin, according to the Wall Street Journal in 2003. Wall Street applauded the move, respectful of Karmazin's record in financial management and operational details as head of CBS.
But a few years down the road, it became less and less likely that Karmazin would succeed Redstone. Not only did the pair have an uneasy relationship, but Karmazin failed to meet earnings targets from 2001 to 2003. Moreover, Redstone wanted back some of the power he had relinquished.
Despite the three-year deal they arrived at in 2003, in June 2004 Karmazin resigned.
Redstone named MTV's Tom Freston and CBS's Leslie Moonves co-presidents, setting up a competition between them for his heir apparent.
Television, radio, and outdoor segments reported to Moonves and cable networks, entertainment, and video, to Freston. Television had produced 29 percent of Viacom's 2003 consolidated revenues; followed by video, 22 percent; cable networks, 21 percent; entertainment, 15 percent; radio, 8 percent; and outdoor, 5 percent.
Significantly, Redstone was prepared to finally step down as CEO, something he said he would do within the next three years. Gunther wrote for Fortune, "Until now the 81-year-old Redstone had stubbornly refused to set a date for his retirement. No one can force him out, because he controls 71% of the shareholder votes at $27 billion-a-year Viacom."
Principal Subsidiaries: Blockbuster Videos, Inc.; Paramount Pictures; Paramount Home Entertainment; Simon & Schuster; MTV Networks; Showtime Networks Inc.; VH1 Inc.; BET; The CBS Television Network; United Paramount Network; Infinity Broadcasting; Paramount Television; Paramount Parks.
Principal Competitors: News Corp.; Time Warner; Walt Disney.
OVERALL
Beta: 1.26
Market Cap (Mil.): $29,652.50
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 585.12
Annual Dividend: 0.60
Yield (%): 1.20
FINANCIALS
VIAb.N Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): 15.74 15.91 21.66
EPS (TTM): 27.73 -- --
ROI: 10.63 7.18 1.89
ROE: 21.15 12.47 2.88
Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1971
Employees: 122,770
Sales: $26.6 billion (2003)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: VIA
NAIC: 5152210 Cable & Other Subscription Programming; 512110 Motion Picture and Video Production; 518111 Internet Services Providers; 532230 Video Tape and Disc Rental; 511130 Book Publishers: 551112 Offices of Other Holding Companies; 713110 Amusement and Theme Parks
Key Dates:
1970: Viacom is formed by the Central Broadcasting System (CBS).
1971: Formally made a separate company, Viacom becomes one of the largest cable firms in the United States.
1973: Fragmentation in the cable industry inhibits growth.
1976: Company establishes Showtime movie network to compete with Home Box Office (HBO).
1981: Company invests $65 million in cable infrastructure.
1985: Company purchases MTV Networks.
1986: Debt-weakened Viacom is purchased by Sumner M. Redstone.
1989: Viacom files lawsuit against HBO.
1994: Company purchases Paramount and Blockbuster.
1996: Viacom spins off cable systems.
2000: Viacom buys CBS Corporation.
2004: Redstone announces intention to step down as CEO.
Name Age Since Current Position
Sumner Redstone 87 2006 Executive Chairman of the Board
Philippe Dauman 57 2006 President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Shari Redstone 57 2006 Non-Executive Vice Chairman of the Board
James Barge 55 2010 Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Robert Bakish 47 2011 President and Chief Executive Officer - Viacom International Media Networks
Thomas Dooley 54 2010 Chief Operating Officer, Senior Executive Vice President, Director
Michael Fricklas 50 2006 Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary
Denise White 56 2007 Executive Vice President - Human Resources and Administration
Carl Folta 53 2006 Executive Vice President - Corporate Communications
DeDe Lea 46 2006 Executive Vice President - Government Relations
Katherine Gill-Charest 46 2010 Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, Controller
George Abrams 78 2006 Director
Alan Greenberg 83 2006 Independent Director
Robert Kraft 69 2006 Independent Director
Charles Phillips 51 2006 Independent Director
Frederic Salerno 67 2006 Independent Director
William Schwartz 77 2006 Independent Director
Blythe McGarvie 54 2007 Independent Director
Address:
1515 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
U.S.A.