Viacom Inc. shaved more than $7 million off potential annual interest costs after its controlling shareholder publicly urged a merger with CBS Corp. just as the media giant was kicking off a $1 billion bond sale.
Keen to get in before a media remarriage, debt investors submitted some $15 billion of orders for the bonds, people with knowledge of the matter said, and Viacom ultimately raised $1.3 billion. The demand allowed Viacom to lower the yield on parts of the offering by about 0.7%.
The Redstone family, which controls both Viacom and CBS, formally asked the companies to consider a merger on Thursday. It came after Viacom, owner of MTV and Comedy Central, last week lowered its profit forecasts, halved its dividend and said it would tap capital markets. Expectations of a deal, which would recombine companies that the family split a decade ago, spurred a rally in Viacom's securities.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to Treasury & Risk, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited Treasury & Risk content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Thought leadership on regulatory changes, economic trends, corporate success stories, and tactical solutions for treasurers, CFOs, risk managers, controllers, and other finance professionals
- Informative weekly newsletter featuring news, analysis, real-world case studies, and other critical content
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.