CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. plan to merge, creating a combined company with about $8.6 billion in retirement plan assets, the New York-based entertainment companies announced Tuesday in a joint news release.
The all-stock merger agreement is expected to close before the end of 2019. Existing CBS shareholders will own about 61% of the combined company, while existing Viacom shareholders will own about 39%.
As of Sept. 30, 2018, CBS Corp. had $2.6 billion in U.S. defined benefit plan assets and $4.1 billion in U.S. defined contribution plan assets, and Viacom Inc. had $544 million in U.S. DB plan assets and $1.4 billion in U.S. DC plan assets, according to Pensions & Investments data.
According to the company's most recent 11-K filings, Fidelity Investments is the record keeper of the CBS 401(k) Plan, while Empower Retirement is the record keeper for the Viacom 401(k) Plan.
Dana McClintock, executive vice president and chief communications officer at CBS Corp., and Justin Dini, senior vice president, corporate communications, at Viacom, could not be immediately reached to provide further information.
