National Amusements Inc. or NAI, a theater chain controlled by Sumner Redstone, announced Wednesday that it is selling a portion of its stakes in media companies CBS Corp. (CBS,CBS-A) and Viacom Inc. (VIA, VIA-B), with an aim to pay off its debts. NAI, which has controlling interests in the common stock of CBS and Viacom, expects to receive gross proceeds of about $600 million from Viacom stake sale, and about $345 million in the offering of CBS stock. NAI added that it will retain major stake and voting control in both companies, after the offerings, and also will retain theatre chain assets. Separately, CBS re-affirmed its fiscal 2009 OIBDA view.
Both Viacom and CBS have filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, that will permit NAI to sell, in concurrent underwritten offerings, a portion of their stock, NAI noted.
Norwood, Massachusetts-based NAI said that one-time underwritten sale of its CBS and Viacom stock, and the anticipated sales of certain non-core assets, will enable it to retain control of both CBS and Viacom, as well as to retain full ownership of all of its theater assets in the UK and Brazil and its core theater assets in the United States. The company added that it has no intention to further reduce its ownership levels in CBS and Viacom and will retain in excess of 75% of the voting control of each company after giving effect to the offerings.
NAI noted that the proceeds from the stake sale, assuming full exercise of the underwriters' over-allotment option, combined with proceeds from the asset divestitures, will be provided to existing creditors in accordance with the credit documents.
Redstone, chairman and chief executive officer of NAI, said, "As a result of our actions, National Amusements will be out of debt with its existing creditors and will still control its most important assets. We believe in the significant long-term value of Viacom and CBS Corporation, both of which are well-positioned for growth in this improving economic environment. Similarly, with leadership positions in key domestic and international markets, National Amusements theaters have outstanding near and long-term prospects."
NAI, a motion picture exhibition company, has assets including more than 1,500 motion picture screens in the U.S., U.K., Latin America and Russia, as well as a portfolio of real estate assets, and a partnership in the online ticketing service, MovieTickets.com, in addition to controlling stakes in Viacom and CBS.
In a separate statement, New York-based CBS announced that it has filed an amendment to its registration statement with the SEC for the offering of the company's Class B common stock by NAIRI, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NAI and a controlling stockholder of the company. CBS said it is not selling any securities in connection with this offering and will receive no proceeds. The proceeds of approximately $345 million includes a 30-day option to purchase an additional number of shares equal to 10% of the total number of shares offered to cover over-allotments that NAIRI has granted its underwriters.
Viacom also announced that NAI intends to offer in an underwritten public offering a number of shares of Viacom's Class B common stock for proceeds of approximately $600 million, assuming full exercise of the 30-day over-allotment options NAI has granted the underwriters. Viacom said it will not sell any shares in the offering and will not receive any of the proceeds.
According to Viacom, NAI, through NAIRI, holds about 46.8 million shares of Viacom voting Class A common stock, or approximately 81.6% of the outstanding shares, and approximately 16.3 million shares of Viacom non-voting Class B common stock, or about 3% of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock.
For the offering, Citi is acting as the Sole Bookrunner and Joint Lead Manager, while J.P. Morgan is acting as Joint Lead Manager.
Separately, CBS re-affirmed its business outlook of fiscal 2009 operating income before depreciation and amortization, or OIBDA, in the range of $1.725 billion to $1.925 billion.
In the year 2008, the company had reported an OIBDA loss of $11.63 billion, due to pre-tax non-cash impairment charges totaling $14.18 billion, excluding which adjusted OIBDA was $2.78 billion.
Earlier, in August, Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive officer of CBS had said, "We continue to believe that the back half of the year will be considerably stronger than the first. We are particularly encouraged by the strong performance of our many content businesses. And we continue to see the benefits of the aggressive steps we have taken to reduce expenses throughout the Company."
CBS is currently trading at $11.97, down $0.18 or 1.48%, on a volume of 2 million shares, and CBS-A is down $0.21 or 1.73% at $11.95.
VIA is currently trading at $30.00, down $0.09 or 0.30%, on a volume of 61 thousand shares. VIA-B is currently at $28.41, down $0.29 or 1.01%.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.