More than two months after National Amusements, which owns 80 percent of the stock in both CBS (parent company of Simon & Schuster) and Viacom, urged the two companies to consider a merger, that potential deal has now been withdrawn. CNBC reported that Shari Redstone, vice chair for both companies, “is reversing course and now backs Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and his plan to bring the company back to prominence.” The WSJ added that CBS head Leslie Moonves “never appeared to be more than lukewarm on the idea and repeatedly told investors that CBS was a strong stand-alone company”, adding […]
