Viacom cuts outlook says boardroom fight hurts business

Viacom cuts its earnings view Friday, blaming in part the high-stakes battle over power over the entertainment large.

1 day after the girl of Viacom's elderly main shareholder Sumner Redstone shifted to oust key people of the board associated with directors, the company mentioned it now expects income per share in the particular current quarter ahead 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 poor box-office sales of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" film.

Viacom said this now expects earnings for each share in the current quarter to come in at just $1. 00-$1. 05, far shy of the average analyst estimate of $1. 38 ?Chris Hondros (Getty/Getty Images/File)
But it also said that will an important agreement on loading video on demand, a single of the fastest-growing segments of the entertainment market, had been delayed due to the fight among a group led by chairman and chief executive Phillipe Dauman and vice chair Shari Redstone more than who will control the group when her 93-year-old father dies.

The business said within a statement that it had expected to complete a "significant" SVOD agreement within the current quarter. Nevertheless, it said, "the recent and highly public governance controversy negatively impacted the timing and its ability to achieve an optimal result with partners. "
The announcement came hours after Sumner Redstone's National Amusements Inc, which has eighty percent control of Viacom, announced the removal of Dauman plus four of his allies on the board associated with directors.

Their replacements, allies of Shari Redstone, would strengthen her hand on the board.
Viacom shares, which hopped on Thursday on the particular move to shuffle the board, fell 1. 4 percent to $44. 44 in late trade Fri.
But the board move remains pending the quality of a lawsuit filed inside a Delaware court by one of the dismissed directors, Frederic Salerno, seeking to prevent it.
Salerno branded the particular latest move a "brazen and demonstrably invalid attempt" by Shari Redstone to take over the $40 billion entertainment business, which controls hit names such as bokep indo online MTV, Nickelodeon, and Humor Central, as well because Hollywood giant Paramount Pictures.

Salerno alleged that Sumner Redstone had always meant that independent professionals instead than family members operate the organization after he passes away.
However , he said, Redstone "is being manipulated and utilized by his daughter within an attempt to achieve her long-held goal of gaining complete control associated with Viacom. "
On Fri Dauman pressed a Massachusetts court to quickly order a medical examination of Sumner Redstone to display he is not psychologically competent to make the particular decisions related to him by his daughter and attorneys.

In an earlier filing, Dauman characterized Redstone as "a 93-year-old man suffering from overwhelming physical conditions, including an inability in order to speak, stand, walk, eat, write or read. inch
Questions are ongoing more than whether the 93-year-old Sumner Redstone is mentally qualified to sign off on major corporate moves ?Robyn Beck (AFP/File)
There provides been an ongoing internal struggle at Viacom in between a group led by chairman and chief professional Phillipe Dauman (pictured) and vice chair Shari Redstone over that will control the particular group when the 93-year-old Sumner Redstone dies ?Sajjad Hussain (AFP/File)