Word: viacom
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...essentially threw in his hand and let Redstone rake in the pot. For Redstone, the triumph in what he angrily came to call "the cruel, abusive and sometimes ridiculous battle for Paramount" could hardly have been sweeter. With the battle about to end last Monday, Redstone, Biondi and two Viacom colleagues repaired to the posh "21" Club in midtown Manhattan to dine and await the result of the tally of tendered shares, which was due by midnight. The first call from Viacom's proxy solicitor came at 8:30, with word that Viacom already had the 50.1% of Paramount stock...
...left Viacom with $10 billion of debt and exacted a heavy toll on the company's shareholders and allies. Redstone concedes that the battle forced him to cough up some $1.5 billion more than he intended to pay when Viacom and Paramount unveiled their original merger agreement last Sept. 12. Since then the price of Viacom Class-B stock has shrunk more than 50%, falling from 56 3/4 to 25 3/4 last Friday as investors reckoned that the cost ! of the merger would hammer the company's profits for years...
...Martin Davis, who has run the corporation since 1983 but was relegated to the role of bystander in the protracted struggle. There will be no room for Davis in the merged company, which will be headed by Redstone, Biondi and Blockbuster chairman H. Wayne Huizenga, who is to become Viacom's vice chairman. Davis will leave with a fat consolation prize, however, when he cashes in his Paramount stock for roughly $120 million...
According to some key participants, the Blockbuster deal nearly died aborning -- a close call that could have scuttled Viacom's chances of winning Paramount as well. The trouble began shortly before Christmas, when Blockbuster president Steven Berrard demanded that Viacom provide a separate collar to protect Blockbuster shareholders, who were to receive $8.4 billion in cash and Viacom stock in exchange for their company. While Greenhill later championed a collar for Paramount shareholders, he rejected Berrard's demand out of hand. Reason: Viacom stock was falling fast, and if the plunge accelerated, the company would have to issue more shares...
...Viacom couldn't afford to let Blockbuster get away, because Redstone needed the video chain's financial clout to defeat Diller and then help pay interest on the debt after the Paramount merger. So Greenhill, whose firm earned $12.5 million for advising Viacom, resorted to a game of high-stakes financial chicken. He allowed the Blockbuster talks to break off rather than accede to Berrard's demands. At the same time, Greenhill instructed Levitt to maintain contact with his pal Berrard. The strategy paid off on Christmas Day, when Levitt, calling from New Jersey on his Jeep Cherokee car phone...