New York – Shareholders of Viacom Inc. will get half a share of the new Viacom and half a share of CBS Corp. for each share they hold when the media conglomerate splits into two companies, the company said Wednesday.
Viacom detailed terms of its plan to split into two public companies in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission but didn’t give a specific date for when it expects to finish the breakup.
Shares of the company gained little, rising 81 cents to close at $31.99 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Viacom first disclosed it was considering breaking up the company in March amid frustration with its languishing stock price.
The stock traded as high as $75.88 in July 2000, but has generally struggled since.
Analysts said Viacom’s filing contained few surprises.
“It’s interesting that Viacom is sort of satisfying all the demands of shareholders with this move, but so far it hasn’t done the stock any good,” said Rob Sanderson, an analyst at American Technology Research. “It’s been pretty flat and down. I don’t think it has anything to do with its conglomerate structure, but concerns investors have about the media business.”
New York-based Viacom plans to group its cable and entertainment businesses under the Viacom name and put its traditional broadcasting units under the CBS name.
