Paramount Global (doing business as Paramount) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation operated and owned by theater company National Amusements. The company was formed from the union between the second iteration of Viacom and CBS Corporation. The merger was announced on August 13, 2019 and the company began operations as ViacomCBS on December 4 of the same year [1]. On February 16, 2022, ViacomCBS was renamed to Paramount to emphasize their streaming service, Paramount+ and their film studio Paramount Pictures.
History[]
ViacomCBS (2019–2022)
On February 15, 2022 during a presentation to investors, ViacomCBS announced that it would change its name to Paramount Global beginning February 16; in a memo to staff announcing the change, it was stated that the rebranding was intended to leverage the "iconic global name", and would "reflect who we are, what we aspire to be, and all that we stand for." The company will primarily refer to itself as simply "Paramount".[1]
Name changes and predecessors[]
(1989-1994) |
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(1952-2000) |
(1997-2000) |
(2006-2019) |
(2005-2019) |
(2019-2022 (ViacomCBS), 2022-present (Paramount)) | |
The history of the current company is quite convoluted in the various acquisitions and merging that happened between 1952 and 2022. The company’s beginning was with a syndication division for CBS. In 1971, it was renamed to Viacom (Video and audio communications). In 1994, they purchased Paramount Communications (which included Paramount Pictures). In 2000, they reunited with CBS after nearly 29 years of being separate, this also meant that UPN was transferred to the CBS side of the company. In 2006, they separated again (similar to the 1971 separation) and created Viacom (new) and CBS Corporation. In 2019, they decided to merge again after seeing similar events happening between other media companies, which resulted in them creating ViacomCBS, which was a portmanteau of the two companies names. In February 2022, they renamed to Paramount, which was mainly due to them wanting to emphasize their streaming platform which was launched in 2021, Paramount+ and also their main film production company, Paramount Pictures. As a result of their renaming, they removed the byline from the film studio’s newest logo, likely to avoid people assuming that Paramount Pictures owns itself (considering that the logo has the "Paramount" text already displayed on it).
Primary acquisitions[]
- 1985: Nickelodeon, MTV, and Showtime
- 1994: Paramount Pictures (through Paramount Communications purchase)
- 1994: Blockbuster
- 2000: CBS and Paramount Network
- 2001: BET Networks (BET)
- 2005: DreamWorks Pictures (later divested in 2008)
- 2016: Telefe
- 2019: Paws, Inc.
- 2019: Miramax
- 2021: Chilevisión
Also purchased Rainbow and Mirage Studios
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (2022-02-15). "Goodbye Viacom and CBS: ViacomCBS Changes Corporate Name to Paramount". Variety.
See also[]
- second Viacom, its predecessor
- CBS Corporation, its other predecessor
- List of companies owned by Paramount, list for their subsidiaries
External links[]
- 2019 merger of CBS and Viacom page on Wikipedia
- Company website
- Official website
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Global
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