ViacomCBS shares plunged nearly 15 percent yesterday immediately after the company’s quarterly analyst call, reflecting unease over the company’s Q4 numbers and Bakish’s turnaround plans. In what Bakish categorized as a “transitional” period due to the merger, ViacomCBS reported a net loss from continuing operations of $273 million, down from a profit of $884 million in Q4 2018, when Viacom and CBS were separate companies. Revenue dipped 3 percent to a combined $6.9 billion. The company said integration is moving swiftly, and it sees cost savings at $750 million, up from $500 million it anticipated at the time of the merger. In specific Q$ numbers, revenue at cable networks declined 2 percent, while television entertainment ad sales dipped 5 percent to $1.7 billion, affiliate fees rose 27 percent to $682 million and content licensing revenue dipped 9 percent to $715 million.
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That’s exactly the problem. He, like Philippe before him, is now managing to the stock price and quarterly earnings calls and not in the best interest a long term plan would bear out. There is no long term plan, as evidenced by the 180 degree shift on streaming. Within the past six months, Viacom sold South Park steaming rights to HBO, Yellowstone to NBC and cut a deal for new Nick-branded animation to Netflix. Think those properties would be valuable to an all-in-one streaming product now?!?
"From what I read:"
Who are you talking about? Which people that screwed up CBS are now in charge?
"His presence will be missed" https://deadline.com/2018/09/if-cbs-boss-les-moonves-exits-his-presence-will-be-missed-over-the-longer-term-analyst-1202458449/
From what I read, CBS was in far worse shape than previously imagined. Now that everything has come out it became Bobs responsibility to fix the problems CBS caused. In an ironic turn of events, the same people who screwed up CBS are now in charge of Viacom. No repercussions at all.
They do look alike
According to public SEC filings, Bob has over 500,000 shares of Viacom stock. He feels the heat.