Shari Redstone Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Shares of ViacomCBS are down more than 20% in early trading as Wall Street digests the company’s streaming strategy, outlook and financials announced after the market closed Tuesday, and clearly has some issues.

The CFO of ViacomCBS, soon to be known as Paramount, said Tuesday that the company is looking hard for “efficiencies” at its traditional businesses to divert as much cash it can to streaming, where investment will hit an estimated $6 billion in 2024.

ViacomCBS unveiled a slew of new news Tuesday during an investor day presentation that followed the release of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings.

ViacomCBS is rebranding to become Paramount Global, effective Feb. 16, the latest giant pivot in a rapidly transforming media and entertainment landscape. It’s the name of the company’s storied studio and its centerpiece streaming network Paramount+, which launched in March of 2021.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorViacomCBS will change its corporate name to Paramount as of Feb. 16, calling the move an effort to adopt “an iconic global name” to reflect the conglomerate’s increasingly worldwide focus.The company’s shares will trade on the NASDAQ index under the ticker symbol PARA (for Class B common shares), PARAA (for Class A common), and PARAP (for Class A preferred).The moniker makeover was announced Tuesday by ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone and president-CEO Bob Bakish in a memo to staffers.

Skydance Media, the maker of “The Tomorrow War” and “Mission: Impossible,” will develop and produce a slate of live-action films as part of a new multi-year pact with Apple Original Films.The move between the production company and the tech giant has been rumored for months, with buzz building after Apple and Skydance brokered a similar deal for animated films and series. The news is yet another signal of the shift in power in the entertainment landscape from traditional media companies to streaming giants.Skydance had long been most closely associated with one of those legacy companies in Paramount Pictures.

ViacomCBS’s Bob Bakish said he and chair Shari Redstone both bought stock last month in a show of faith that the shares are undervalued and investors to will start acknowledge that, with a few prods.

EXCLUSIVE: Star Trek: Discovery is heading home.

Tom Freston, a founder of the MTV network, once observed: “What’s fascinating about the future is that so many people claim to understand it.” In 2006, Freston, then CEO of Viacom, was fired by Sumner Redstone, who explained that “Freston doesn’t understand the future.” As it turned out, Redstone had failed to understand the present.

Comcast and ViacomCBS are exploring partnerships in international streaming — a more targeted agreement than a full-out merger, speculation of which has dogged both companies for months.

ViacomCBS Chair Shari Redstone was doing the rounds at Sun Valley but contrary to reports, she did not have a meeting with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts at the Allen & Co. mogul mountain retreat, according to a person familiar with the situation. The Philly-based conglom has been the subject of constant deal speculation since two big mergers have promised toredraw the landscape if and when they close.

ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone in a pink cardigan and black backpack, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell in short sleeves, Discovery chief executive David Zaslav in dark shades and a signature vest and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts pulling up in a car – these are of some of the first shots of media moguls arriving in Sun Valley, Idaho for the Allen & Company conference.

David Nevins’ footprint at ViacomCBS is about to get a whole lot more digital, again.

ViacomCBS has disclosed the compensation for its top executives, in its second proxy filing since its creation via the recombination of Viacom and CBS Corp. The Redstone family-controlled company said in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that CEO Bob Bakish received $39 million in 2020, compared with his overall 2019 pay of nearly $36.6 million.

For more than 100 years, the Paramount brand has stood as a symbol for the golden age of Hollywood filmmaking. On Wednesday afternoon, executives from ViacomCBS made the case for why Paramount and its gleaming mountain logo will be what pushes the entertainment conglomerate into the streaming era.

Shari Redstone, chair of ViacomCBS, stepped out out in force Wednesday, announcing that the company about to be discussed for the next three hours “is not your father’s Viacom. And it’s not my fathers’ either.”

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA Delaware judge has allowed CBS stockholders to sue over the 2019 merger of Viacom and CBS, finding a reasonable claim that former CBS chief Joseph Ianniello “sold” his support for the deal to Shari Redstone in exchange for a $125 million payout.Ianniello was president and chief operating officer under former CEO Les Moonves, and he sided with Moonves in trying to block the merger, arguing it would be bad for CBS.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorThe 2019 Viacom-CBS merger will undergo strict legal scrutiny now that a Delaware Chancery Court judge has allowed a lawsuit to proceed from shareholders who say they were shortchanged in the transaction because of pressure applied by ViacomCBS controlling shareholder Shari Redstone.Judge Joseph Slights ruled that the plaintiffs made a credible enough case, or as he put it, a “reasonably conceivable basis,” that there were irregularities that benefitted Redstone

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorPublic.com, the social stock-investment app startup, tapped more celebrity backers for its $65 million Series C funding round.Among those are pro skateboarder Tony Hawk and EDM-pop duo the Chainsmokers, through their Mantis VC fund.

What's the path forward for ViacomCBS after media mogul Sumner Redstone's deathat 97? Most Wall Street observers expect no strategy changes given that the executive didn't have any involvement in major company decisions in recent years. But some suggest there will be less soap opera-type focus on the Redstone family than in the past, which has at times distracted from the focus on the business.

«Sumner was a true industry titan, a brilliant and driven pioneer whose influence on the media and entertainment landscape cannot be overstated,» said a statement from ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish. ViacomCBS Chair Shari Redstone said in a statement, «My father led an extraordinary life that not only shaped entertainment as we know it today, but created an incredible family legacy.

Nick Cannon, 39, is turning the tables on ViacomCBS by demanding an apology from them and insisting that he actually did that himself over the situation regarding his words on his podcast/YouTube series titled Cannon’s Class.

“promoted hateful speech and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,” pushed back in a lengthy Facebook post on Wednesday.Cannon said he reached out to Shari Redstone, who controls ViacomCBS through her National Amusements, Inc. company, “to have a conversation of reconciliation and actually apologize if I said anything that pained or hurt her or her community.”Also Read: ViacomCBS Fires Nick Cannon After Podcast 'Perpetuating Anti-Semitism'He said he received “dead silence” in return.

By Jill Goldsmith

ViacomCBS is moving quickly to reap the benefits of the recombined company and its "significant" upside opportunity, non-executive chair Shari Redstone said during the firm's virtual annual shareholder meeting Monday, which was webcast.

By Jill Goldsmith

By Ted Johnson