Report: CBS eyes sale of theme parks
Company looks to sell unit that came from Viacom split and has $1.1B in revenue, newspaper says.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - CBS is looking to sell its theme parks, which account for about $1.1 billion in annual sales, according to a published report. The New York Times quotes CBS (Research) CEO Les Moonves as telling an analyst meeting Thursday that the business does not fit with CBS's content-driven business, which includes the television network, television and radio stations, an outdoor advertising business and a publishing business.
The theme parks unit, which became part of CBS when it was spun off of media conglomerate Viacom earlier this year, accounts for about 8 percent of the new company's revenue base. The newspaper reports the sale of the parks unit has already generated interest. Parks included in the unit include Paramount's Kings Island in Cincinnati; Paramount's Great America in Santa Clara, Calif.; Paramount's Kings Dominion, in Richmond, Va.; Paramount Canada's Wonderland in Toronto; Paramount's Carowinds in Charlotte, N.C.; and the Star Trek: The Experience attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton. The Times reports that one analyst asked Moonves why the company isn't also trying to sell its publishing unit, Simon & Schuster, due to its lack of synergy with the company's other media holdings. "To tell the truth, it is not the most synergistic group, but it is a content provider and we are working on different ways of using the books," the newspaper quotes him as responding. The company announced plans earlier this week to create a new broadcast television network, the CW, in a joint venture with Time Warner (Research), combining content from its UPN network as well as Time Warner's WB network. CNNMoney.com is a unit of Time Warner. _______________ For more on the new CW network, click here. |
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