Long known as the squabbling siblings of media, CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. are poised to finally reunite after 13 years apart. The Viacom name gets top billing even though CBS is more valuable. The all-stock transaction is worth nearly $12 billion, which was the market capitalization of Viacom, the media company that owns MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET and Paramount Pictures, the movie studio known for “Top Gun” and the “Transformers” franchises. CBS and Viacom stock have each dropped about 20% since the merger was announced in August. The company’s library is stocked with more than 140,000 television episodes, including lucrative children’s franchises including “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and more than 3,600 movie titles.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 04, 2019 12:56 UTC