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CBS Corporation
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CBS Corporation () is an American media conglomerate focused on broadcasting, publishing, billboards, and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, whose company National Amusements is CBS's majority shareholder, serves as Chairman. The company's name came into being on December 31, 2005 and began trading on the NYSE on January 3, 2006. Until then, the corporation was known as Viacom, and is the legal successor to said company.
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Encyclopedia
CBS Corporation () is an American media conglomerate focused on broadcasting, publishing, billboards, and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, whose company National Amusements is CBS's majority shareholder, serves as Chairman. The company's name came into being on December 31, 2005 and began trading on the NYSE on January 3, 2006. Until then, the corporation was known as Viacom, and is the legal successor to said company. A new company, keeping the Viacom name was spun off from CBS. CBS, not Viacom, retains control of the over-the-air broadcasting, TV production, and publishing assets formerly owned by the larger company. However, National Amusements retains majority control of both firms.
History
Viacom was created in 1970 as the television syndication division of CBS, and was spun off in 1971. However, in 1999, Viacom acquired its former parent, by this time also named CBS Corporation, formerly Westinghouse Electric Corporation. The prior CBS Corporation also owned CMT and The Nashville Network (now Spike), which remained Viacom properties after the 2005 split, but the prior CBS did not own UPN, Showtime, Paramount Television, Paramount Parks, or Simon and Schuster.
In March 2005, Viacom announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies, amid issues of the stock price stagnating (although it was alleged that another main force behind the split was the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, which led to MTV not being allowed to produce any more halftime shows, they had also produced the show for Super Bowl XXXV, the first Super Bowl CBS aired since regaining NFL rights and become MTV's corporate sibling).
On June 14, 2005, the Viacom board of directors approved the split of the company into two firms. The CBS Corporation name would be revived for one of the companies, to be headed by longtime television executive (and Viacom co-President) Leslie Moonves, and would include CBS, UPN, Infinity Broadcasting, Viacom Outdoor, Showtime Networks, and Paramount's television studio. These businesses were categorized as the "slow growth businesses" because while they provided steady cash flow, they did not have any growth potential. Some analysts argued that these businesses were suffocating the growth of the MTV Networks cable businesses.
The split was structured such that the "new" Viacom was spun off from the "old" Viacom, which was renamed CBS Corporation. In a sense, this was a repeat of the 1971 spinoff. However, in this case, CBS retained virtually all of the prior firm's broadcast TV assets, including its various syndication companies.
The split was completed on December 31, 2005, and the two new companies began trading on the NYSE, on the next business day, January 3, 2006. The CBS network ran an advertisement stating that the CBS Corporation would exist "beginning on January 3, 2006," (likely referring to be beginning of trading on the New York Stock Exchange), but the websites of the CBS Corporation and Viacom were split beforehand, with a notice on both sites stating that it officially occurred on December 31, 2005.
Sumner Redstone's company National Amusements remains the largest single shareholder of both CBS Corporation and the "new" Viacom.
Transactions during and after the merger
2004
In the interim, Viacom/CBS was involved in a number of transactions. On December 2, 2004 Viacom acquired CBS affiliate KOVR-TV in Sacramento, from Sinclair Broadcast Group. Viacom also acquired two stations in West Palm Beach.
2005
Viacom/CBS has announced it would sell several non-duopoly UPN affiliates, in Indianapolis, Columbus, New Orleans, and Oklahoma City, with possibilities of additional sales.
CBS announced on November 3, 2005, that it would acquire College Sports TV (now CBS College Sports Network) for US$325 million. CEO of CSTV Brian Bedol will continue to run that network and report to Leslie Moonves, chairman of CBS. The transaction was completed in January 2006.
2006
Announced early in 2006, CBS and DIC Entertainment signed a multi-year deal to provide three hours of programming that meet FCC standards for educational programming. The block would be called "KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS" -- which is also a partnership with America Online's KOL kids service and premiered on September 16, 2006.
Shows included are Sabrina, the Animated Series, Horseland, Madeline, Dance Revolution and many others. It was originally supposed to be called "CBS's Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party" but was renamed with KOL's alliance.
The CW
On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation, and Warner Bros. announced that they were to create a new broadcast network, The CW Television Network. The network officially debuted on September 18, 2006. The network formally debuted on September 20 with the 2 hour premiere of America's Next Top Model.
The network is the result of a merger of The WB (a Warner Brothers holding) and UPN (a CBS Corporation holding). CBS Corporation and Time Warner will each own 50% of the network. Tribune Broadcasting (which previously owned a 25% stake on The WB) and CBS Corporation will contribute its stations as new network affiliates.
Paramount Parks
Three days after the announcement of The CW, on January 27, CBS announced that it was selling its Paramount Parks division. On May 23, 2006, CBS Corp. sold Paramount Parks to the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. With this acquisition, Cedar Fair becomes the third-largest theme park operator.
On June 30, 2006, Cedar Fair announced that it has completed its acquisition of Paramount Parks from CBS Corporation in a cash transaction valued at US$1.24 billion.
2007
- February 7: CBS announced it was selling seven stations in Providence, Rhode Island, Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City and West Palm Beach, Florida to Cerberus Capital Management for US$185 million. It sold another station, WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and its satellite station, WJMN-TV in Escanaba, Michigan, to Liberty Media on February 13, 2007. News reports estimate the deal at about US$234 million. CBS is swapping the stations and US$170 million in cash for 7.59 million shares of CBS common stock held by Liberty Media.
- February 26: CBS announced that it will invest in Electric Sheep, which is a virtual world content developer. CBS hired Electric Sheep to develop some projects, including the creation of "The L-Word in Second Life". CBS also shot a commercial within the virtual world Second Life so to promote its show "Two and a Half Men." Another project that Electric Sheep is working on for CBS is a Star Trek-themed area in Second Life. By investing in Electric Sheep, CBS hopes to expand its activity "beyond the living room".
- March 20: CBS/CSTV announced it had acquired an online high school sports network, MaxPreps.
- April 12: CBS Corporation announces the creation of the CBS Interactive Audience Network.
- May 30: CBS Interactive announced that it had bought Last.fm for £140 million.
2008
- May 15: CBS Interactive announced that it had agreed to buy CNET Networks for $1.8 billion, with the deal due to close in the third quarter of 2008. During the July 2nd noon broadcast, CBS3 (which is owned by CBS) announced that its parent acquired CNET and was putting it under CBS Interactive.
Corporate governance
The board of directors of CBS Corp. include:
Assets
- Television networks: CBS, The CW (co-owned with Time Warner), CBS College Sports Network, Showtime Networks
- Television broadcast affiliates: CBS Television Stations
- Television production and distribution: CBS Paramount Television (aka CBS Studios, Inc., CBS Broadcasting, Inc., and CBS Worldwide, Inc.--this includes its worldwide television distribution unit), Big Ticket Television, Spelling Television, etc.
- Record Label: CBS Records
- Radio: CBS Radio
- Digital Media: CBS Interactive, CBS Innertube, Last.fm, CNET Networks, BNET, Consumating, Download.com, GameFAQs, Game Rankings, GameSpot, Metacritic, Movie Tome, MP3.com, mySimon, TechRepublic, TV.com, VersionTracker, ZDNet, Wallstrip
- Outdoor advertising: CBS Outdoor
- Publishing: Simon & Schuster
- Consumer products: CBS Consumer Products
- Legacy brands: Westinghouse Electric Corporation
- Other assets: CBS Films, CBS Operations, CBS Games, CBS Outernet MKTierCo Production Company
Accounting Ratios
CBS Corporation Accounting Ratios | Fiscal Year | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
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| Fiscal Year End Date | 12/31/05 | 12/31/04 | 12/31/03 | 12/31/02 | 12/31/01 |
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| Receivables Turnover | 5.3 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 6.6 | 6.5 | | Receivables - Number of Days | 86.2 | 68.4 | 54.6 | 53.4 | 58.5 | | Inventory Turnover | 8.8 | 10.3 | 11.7 | 11.0 | 10.0 | | Inventory - Number of Days | 41.0 | 35.0 | 30.8 | 32.7 | 36.2 | | Gross Property, Plant & Equipment Turnover | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | | Net Property, Plant & Equipment Turnover | 4.5 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.7 | | Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization | | | | | | | % of Gross Property, Plant & Equipment | 9.8% | 10.4% | 9.4% | 9.6% | 32.9% | | Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization | | | | | | | Year to Year Change (Millions US Dollars) | -31.1 | -19.0 | 5.4 | -213.9 | 86.1 | | Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization | | | | | | | Year to Year % Change | -38.4% | -19.0% | 5.7% | -69.3% | 38.7% | | Source: CorporateInformation CBS Corporation Company Snapshot |
Class Action Suit Against CBS Corporation
On December 12, 2008; CBS Radio's parent company (CBS Corporation) has been named in two sharehlder lawsuits filed against them. The Wall Street Journal reports a San Diego-based law firm is representing the city of Pontiac, Michigan’s employees retirement plan. It claims CBS executives made misleading statements prior to the announcement of a $14 billion charge.
See also
- Viacom (1971-2005), the prior name of the post-2005 CBS Corporation.
- CBS Corporation (1997), an old instance of the company, purchased by the old Viacom in 1999,
- Viacom, the current Viacom, broke off in 2005.
- CBS Mandate, the logo/branding guidelines used on TV stations owned by CBS Corporation.
External links
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