Paramount, Inc.

Paramount Global, Inc. (branded as Paramount) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. The company was formed as ViacomCBS through the merger of the second incarnation of CBS Corporation and the second incarnation of Viacom on December 4, 2019. It operates approximately 170 networks and reaches approximately 700 million subscribers in approximately 160 countries.

The company's main assets include the Paramount Pictures film studio, CBS Entertainment Group (consisting of CBS-branded properties including the namesake CBS network, CBS Television Studios, CBS Television Stations, CBS Interactive and a 50% interest in The CW), Domestic Media Networks (consisting of basic and premium-tier cable television networks including MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, Showtime, etc.) International Media Networks (consisting of international versions of domestic ViacomCBS networks as well as region-specific networks including Channel 5 in the UK and Ten Network Holdings in Australia), Global Distribution Group (consisting of CBS Television Distribution and CBS Studios International), and publishing company Simon & Schuster.

The company is currently the world's sixth largest media company in terms of revenue, and is headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Background
Paramount Global's three core brands, Paramount Pictures, CBS, and Viacom, had long been associated with one another through a history of various corporate mergers and splits. Paramount Pictures was founded in 1912 as the Famous Players Film Company. CBS was founded in 1927, and Paramount Pictures held a 49 percent ownership stake in CBS from 1929 to 1932. In 1952, CBS formed CBS Television Film Sales, a division which handled syndication rights for CBS's library of network owned television series. This division was renamed CBS Films in 1958, and again renamed CBS Enterprises Inc. in January 1968, and finally renamed Viacom (an acronym of Video and Audio Communications) in 1970. In 1971, this syndication division was spun off amid new FCC rules forbidding television networks from owning syndication companies. (The rules were abolished completely in 1993.) In 1985, Viacom purchased MTV Networks and Showtime/The Movie Channel Inc. from Warner Communications and American Express. In 1986, Viacom was acquired by its present owner, theater operator company National Amusements. In 1994, Viacom acquired the original Paramount Communications.

In 1999, Viacom made its biggest acquisition to date by announcing plans to merge with its former parent CBS Corporation (the renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation, which had merged with CBS in 1995). The merger was completed in 2000, resulting in CBS reuniting with its former syndication division. On January 3, 2006, Viacom was split into two companies: CBS Corporation, the former's corporate successor and the spun-off Viacom company.

Formation
On September 29, 2016, National Amusements sent a letter to the company and CBS Corporation, encouraging the two companies to merge back into one company. On December 12, the deal was called off.

On January 12, 2018, CNBC reported that Viacom had re-entered talks to merge back into CBS Corporation, after the planned merger of AT&T-Time Warner and Disney's proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets were announced. Viacom and CBS also faced heavy competition from companies such as Netflix and Amazon. Shortly afterward, it was reported that the combined company could be a suitor for acquiring the film studio Lionsgate. Viacom and Lionsgate were both interested in acquiring The Weinstein Company. Following the Weinstein effect, Viacom was listed as one of 22 potential buyers that were interested in acquiring The Weinstein Company. They have lost the bid, and on March 1, 2018, it was announced that Maria Contreras-Sweet will acquire all of TWC's assets for $500 million.

On March 30, 2018, CBS made an all-stock offer slightly below Viacom's market value, and insisting that its existing leadership, including long-time chairman and CEO Les Moonves, oversee the re-combined company. Viacom rejected the offer as being too low, requesting an increase by $2.8 billion, and requesting that Robert Bakish be maintained as president and COO under Moonves. It was reported these conflicts had resulted from Shari Redstone seeking more control over CBS and its leadership.

Eventually, on May 14, 2018, CBS Corporation sued its and Viacom's parent company National Amusements and accused Shari Redstone of abusing her voting power in the company and forcing a merger that was not supported by it or Viacom. CBS also accused Redstone of discouraging Verizon Communications from acquiring it, which could have been beneficial to its shareholders.

On May 23, 2018, Les Moonves stated that he considered the Viacom channels to be an "albatross," and while he favors more content for CBS All Access, he believes that there are better deals for CBS than the Viacom deal, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate or Sony Pictures. Moonves also considered Bakish a threat because he does not want an ally of Shari Redstone as a board member of the combined company.

On September 9, 2018, Les Moonves exited CBS after being accused by twelve women of sexual assault. National Amusements agreed to make no proposal of a CBS-Viacom merger for at least two years after the date of the settlement.

On May 30, 2019, CNBC reported that CBS Corporation and Viacom would explore merger discussions in mid-June 2019. CBS's board of directors was revamped with people who are open to a merger, The re-merger was made possible with the resignation of Moonves (who opposed all attempts for a Viacom merger). The talks had started following rumors of CBS acquiring Starz from Lionsgate. Reports said that CBS and Viacom reportedly set August 8 as an informal deadline for reaching an agreement to recombine the two media companies. CBS announced to acquire Viacom as part of the re-merger deal for up to $15.4 billion.

On August 2, 2019, it was reported that CBS and Viacom agreed to merge back into one entity. Both companies came to an agreement on the management team for the merger, with Robert Bakish serving as the CEO of the combined company while the president and acting CEO of CBS, Joseph Ianniello, will oversee the CBS-branded assets. On August 7, 2019, CBS and Viacom separately reported their quarterly earnings as the talks about the re-merger continued.

As ViacomCBS (2019-2022)
On August 13, 2019, CBS and Viacom officially announced their merger; the combined company would be named ViacomCBS. Shari Redstone will also serve as chairwoman of the new company. Upon the merger agreement, Viacom and CBS jointly announced that the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. The merger required approval by the Federal Trade Commission.

On October 28, 2019, the merger was approved by National Amusements, which then announced the deal would close in early December; the recombined company trades its shares on Nasdaq under the symbols "VIAC" and "VIACA" after CBS Corporation delisted its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

On November 25, 2019, Viacom and CBS announced the merger would close on December 4 and begin trading on NASDAQ on next day. On December 4, 2019, Bakish confirmed that the ViacomCBS merger had closed.

On December 10, 2019, days after the merger, Bakish announced that ViacomCBS would look to divest Black Rock, the building that held CBS's headquarters since 1964. He stated, "Black Rock is not an asset we need to own and we believe that money would be put to better use elsewhere." On December 20, 2019, ViacomCBS agreed to acquire a 49% minority stake in film studio Miramax from beIN Media Group for $379 million. As part of the purchase, Paramount Pictures reached a long-term deal for exclusive distribution rights to its library, and first-look agreements to co-develop new film and television projects based on Miramax-owned properties.

On March 2, 2020, executive vice president Dana McClintock announced that he would depart the company after 27 years in CBS Communications. On March 4, the company announced plans to potentially sell its Simon & Schuster publishing unit, with Bakish arguing that it lacked a "significant connection for our broader business.”

As Paramount (2022-present)
On February 15, 2022, during a presentation to investors, ViacomCBS announced that it would change its name to Paramount Global beginning the following day; in a memo to staff announcing the change, it was stated that the rebranding was intended to leverage the "iconic global name", and would "reflect who we are, what we aspire to be, and all that we stand for." The company will primarily refer to itself as simply "Paramount".

Company units
, ViacomCBS comprises three major units:


 * The company’s Creative Network comprises of the company's content producion/distribution divisions, including the film studio Paramount Pictures and the television production/distribution studio CBS Studios. Through this division, ViacomCBS also owns a third of the Rainbow S.r.l. animated television studio in Italy, and with BeIN Media Group, a 49% stake in the film studio Miramax.


 * ViacomCBS Television Group encompasses the broadcast and cable channels provided in the United States, including the CBS television network, CBS News, CBS Sports, CBS Television Stations, and cable networks (including MTV, Nickelodeon, Showtime, BET, Comedy Central, among others), as well as a 50% interest in The CW television network, a joint venture with WarnerMedia. ViacomCBS Domestic additionally controls production facilities for its cable television brands, including Nickelodeon Animation Studio.


 * ViacomCBS Streaming Group encompasses the company's direct-to-consumer platforms (including the subscription-based Paramount+ and ad-supported Pluto TV streaming services) and certain international versions of the company's domestic channels, as well as region-specific networks, such as Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, Network 10 in Australia, and Telefe in Argentina. ViacomCBS also owns a a 49% stake in the Viacom 18 joint venture with TV18. This unit also includes all CBS-branded channels across Europe, which are co-owned with AMC Networks International.

Other assets owned by ViacomCBS are multi-genre online video conference VidCon, mixed martial arts promotion Bellator, and media and entertainment company AwesomenessTV. As of November 2019, AwesomenessTV is overseen by its co-founder Brian Robbins, an executive for ViacomCBS Domestic.