The Hollywood Reporter – August 14, 2019

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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 11 AUGUST 14, 2019

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Illustration by Agata Nowicka

↑ Film

Hunt Firestorm

Why Universal killed the

Jason Blum thriller p. 12

Digital

Netflix’s Game

Are Thrones creators worth

their rich deal? p. 22

$134.30 (+3 1 % )

ROKU (ROKU)

The streaming-media firm

announces that active users

surpass 30 million while

gross profit soars 47 percent

to $114.2 million in the most

recent quarter.

$3.32 (-37%)

ENTERCOM

COMMUNICATIONS (ETM)

The radio giant with a portfolio

of 235 stations cuts its quar-

terly dividend by 78 percent

in order to pay down debt and

repurchase shares.

to buy for $5 billion, only to be

rebuffed. One banker suggests

that Discovery Communications

might make the most sense, and

the John Malone-controlled com-

pany was floated as

a takeover target for

the combined CBS-

Viacom just a few

months ago. “Even a

merged CBS-Viacom

is still arguably quite sub-scale

compared to the other streaming

players,” notes Douglas Mitchelson

of Credit Suisse.

ViacomCBS also might have

the heft to merge with AMC

Networks, MGM or even Rupert

Murdoch’s sl i mmed- dow n Fox

Corp., but even if Bakish managed

to roll his soon-to-be-company

into all of those, the hodge-

podge’s enterprise value would

still be shy of today’s giants.

“A c o mb i n e d C B S -V i a c o m

W

hen Sumner Redstone

split CBS from Viacom

in 2006, he was bust-

ing up a major conglomerate in

the hope that the assets would be

better appreciated separately for

their different qualities — CBS for

its steady reliability and Viacom

for its riskier, hit-driven growth

potential. It didn’t quite work out

that way, and now daughter Shari

Redstone is struggling to turn a

couple of relatively small compa-

nies into a single entity.

On Aug. 13, CBS and Viacom

said that they plan to recombine

to create a company valued at

about $31 billion — not exactly in

the league of AT&T-WarnerMedia

($255 billion), or even Netflix

($137 billion). If a deal closes, the

new entity — dubbed ViacomCBS

— would aim to do battle not only

with those much larger conglom-

erates but also with tech giants

like Google and Apple.

To do that, Bob Bakish, the

Viacom CEO who will take that

role at the combined company,

will need to gobble up a few more

assets. Lionsgate would make

a tasty morsel, many analysts

say, as would its Starz channel,

which CBS already has offered

David Rubin

The film Academy’s new

president becomes the first

casting director and first

openly gay leader in the

history of the 92-year-old

organization.

Olivia Wilde

The Booksmart director

creates a frenzy for her next

project, thriller Don’t Worry,

Darling, as New Line wins

a bidding war that included

Netflix and others.

Megan Ellison

The Annapurna Pictures

mogul retains a law firm to

explore bankruptcy for the

struggling studio amid a series

of acclaimed yet pricey

and underperforming films.

Placido Domingo

Los Angeles Opera opens an

investigation into the famed

singer after he’s accused

by multiple women of sexual

harassment over decades.

Aug. 5-

Bob Bakish and Joseph Ianniello will preside over a film and TV empire that brings

together Star Tr e k and Mission: Impossible — but some say ‘too little, too late’ and it needs

to go on a buying spree to contend with Disney and Netflix BY PAUL BOND AND GEORG SZALAI

Can a Merged ViacomCBS Boldly

Go After Other Media Assets?

Redstone

AT&T D i s n ey C o m c a s t N e t f l i x S o ny V i a c o m C B S F ox

A Combined Company Still Faces Behemoths

AT&T, Disney and Comcast all boast a much larger market cap than will ViacomCBS

$255B $247B

$198B

$137B

$71B $31B $22B

The reunified company’s content

spend is projected to be $15 billion in

2019, per a Credit Suisse forecast.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Viacom CEO Bob Bakish (right) will lead

the merged company as president and CEO,

while CBS Corp. acting chief Joseph Ianniello

will become chairman and CEO of CBS.