Parent Company National Amusements Pulls the Plug on CBS-Viacom Merger

'This is not the right time,' said Shari Redstone

The merger of CBS and Viacom, which seemed like a foregone conclusion for much of the year, is instead on hold—perhaps permanently.

This morning, National Amusements, which owns 80 percent of the voting shares of both Viacom and CBS, announced it had asked the CBS and Viacom boards to cease their discussions of a potential merger "and focus instead on their independent paths forward."

UPDATE: Monday afternoon, Viacom announced that Bob Bakish, who had been serving as acting president CEO and president since Nov.

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