FEBRUARY 9, 2022 — HERE COME THE CONSULTANTS AND THE FIRINGS
CBS News co-president Neeraj Khemlani apparently hired Washington, D.C.-based FTI Consulting to cut costs, ostensibly to take advantage of the synergies and cost savings associated with the merger.
Curious, Khemlani’s brother, Sanjeev Khemlani is FTI’s senior managing director. FTI’s top media consultant is Luke Schaeffer, who has worked on the CBS account.
According to published reports, “Some believe CBS CEO George Cheeks tapped Khemlani at the behest of ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish and chair, Shari Redstone, to chop overhead at CBS and merge it with Comcast, which already has a news division.
Others say that the steep cuts are related to Viacom’s 2019 merger with CBS, which promised cost synergies of $300 million in 2020 and a three-year target of $800 million.”
AUGUST 13, 2019 — ACQUISITION MOVING TOWARD CLOSURE
With the merger of CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc., finally announced, everything is in flux.
There will be no doubt as to who is calling the shots. Sumner Redstone’s daughter Shari will control the voting stock and serve as the Chair of the Board for the new company which will be called ViacomCBS.
According to published reports, it is believed Redstone will profit from “squeezing hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings from the merger” and position the venture for sale to a larger company that desperately needs content — especially for streaming platforms.
JUNE 20, 2019 — Original Post…
Is the handwriting on the wall for a CBS acquisition of sister company Viacom. According to published reports in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, talks are in a preliminary state with no details on the acquisition pricing, terms and conditions, and most importantly, the leadership team. An acquisition would be somewhat of a reunification of the media conglomerate divided by an enfeebled Summer Redstone who is no longer a part of the equation. Redstone’s daughter, Shari, is the vice-chairman of both companies and holds a controlling interest in both companies through National Amusements, Inc. which owns both companies.
We saw the mass layoffs anticipated when Disney acquired Fox, so one might expect a similar blood bath as duplicative functions and personnel are eliminated to help pay for the acquisition and to boost Wall Street valuations.
While a deal is far from certain, a combined company would be better positioned to compete with its traditional competitors as well as the emerging technology giants that appear to have a stranglehold on digital advertising.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?