Viacom cuts outlook says boardroom fight hurts business
Viacom cuts its earnings view Friday, blaming in part the high-stakes battle over control over the entertainment giant.
One day after the child of Viacom's elderly main shareholder Sumner Redstone moved to oust key members of the board of directors, the company stated it now expects revenue per share in the t.co particular current quarter to come in at just $1. 00-$1. 05, far shy of the average analyst estimate associated with $1. 38.
Viacom stated the company suffered within the quarter from bad box-office sales of its "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" film.
Viacom said it now expects earnings per share in the current quarter to come within at just $1. 00-$1. 05, far shy associated with the average analyst estimation of $1. 38 ?Chris Hondros (Getty/Getty Images/File)
Yet it also said that will an important agreement on loading video on demand, 1 of the fastest-growing sections of the entertainment business, had been delayed because of to the fight in between a group led simply by chairman and chief executive Phillipe Dauman and vice chair Shari Redstone more than that will control the group when her 93-year-old father dies.
The organization said in a statement it experienced expected to complete a "significant" SVOD agreement in the current quarter. However, it said, "the current and highly public governance controversy negatively impacted the particular timing and its ability to achieve an optimal outcome with partners. "
The particular announcement came hours after Sumner Redstone's National Amusements Inc, which has 80 percent control of Viacom, announced the removal of Dauman plus four of his allies on the board associated with directors.
Their substitutes, allies of Shari Redstone, would strengthen her hands on the board.
Viacom shares, which jumped on Thursday on the move to shuffle the particular board, fell 1. four percent to $44. forty-four in late trade Friday.
But the board proceed remains pending the quality of a lawsuit submitted within a Delaware court by among the dismissed directors, Frederic Salerno, seeking to obstruct it.
Salerno branded the latest move a "brazen and demonstrably invalid attempt" by Shari Redstone in order to take over the $40 billion entertainment business, which controls hit names like MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central, as well as Hollywood giant Paramount Images.
Salerno alleged that Sumner Redstone had always designed that independent professionals rather than family members run the business after he passes away.
Nevertheless , he said, Redstone "is being manipulated and used by his daughter in an attempt to achieve her long-held goal of gaining complete control of Viacom. "
On Fri Dauman pressed a Massachusetts court to quickly order a medical examination associated with Sumner Redstone to show he is not psychologically competent to make the particular decisions attributed to him simply by his daughter and lawyers.
In an earlier submitting, Dauman characterized Redstone since "a 93-year-old man struggling from overwhelming physical illnesses, including an inability to speak, stand, walk, consume, write or read. inch
Questions are ongoing over whether the 93-year-old Sumner Redstone is mentally competent to sign off upon major corporate moves ?Robyn Beck (AFP/File)
There has been an ongoing internal struggle at Viacom in between a group led simply by chairman and chief executive Phillipe Dauman (pictured) plus vice chair Shari Redstone over who will control the group when the 93-year-old Sumner Redstone dies ?Sajjad Hussain (AFP/File)