Viacom climbs amid reports merger talks with CBS are heating up

Reuters / Lucas Jackson

• Viacom shares rose as much as 4% on a report from the Wall Street Journal that CBS is planning to make an offer for the media company.
• This would be the third time in four years the media giants have come to the table for merger talks.
• Viacom's has historically underperformed its peers like CBS and Disney.
• Watch Viacom trade live.

A merger between CBS and Viacom could finally happen, and Wall Street seems happy about it.

According to the Wall Street Journal, CBS is planning on making an offer for its sister company, Viacom, in the coming weeks. Shares are Viacom rose as much as 4% on the news.

The deal still faces some challenges such as determining how much CBS is willing to pay per share of Viacom, and who will fill the ranks of the combined company's management team. CBS rose about 1%.

The merger between the two media giants has been proposed several times in the last few years by Shari Redstone, the president of National Amusement, which is a majority shareholder in both CBS and Viacom. The deal has renewed interest over the last few months.

Last week, CNBC reported that merger talks were expected to "get serious" after CBS's board discussed the deal during a meeting last Friday.

Viacom, the owner of Nickelodeon, has underperformed CBS and other competitors such as Disney as a result of cord-cutting and lower ratings for its major networks.

Viacom is up about 19% this year.

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