CBS-Viacom: 20 Years Later, a Look Back at the High Hopes and Eventual Collapse of That First Merger

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It’s been nearly 20 years since Viacom and CBS first announced their intent to merge, in a $35 billion deal that was billed at the time as the biggest ever in showbiz. When Viacom’s Sum…

revealed the plan at a Sept. 7, 1999, press conference, the combined Viacom/CBS empire was valued at $80 billion.

The Viacom acquisition came nearly five years after Westinghouse paid $5.4 billion for CBS in 1995. In acquiring CBS, Redstone touted the ability to advertise and cross-promote Paramount and Viacom content across CBS’ TV and radio stations, as well as outdoor billboards. The deal was seen as complimentary: CBS was mostly in broadcast , while Viacom’s strengths were in film and cable TV.

Because it oversees broadcast licenses, the FCC was the final step in blessing Viacom/CBS, which it did on May 3, 2000. The first real test of the power of the combined company came soon after, when “Survivor” premiered to stunning ratings — and Redstone credited the merged company’s increased footprint for helping promote the show.

In the corporate boardroom, the Viacom/CBS merger also led to more executive intrigue, as Moonves continued to amass more power and Redstone rather quickly soured on Karmazin.

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