Sumner Redstone said in a Monday interview on CNBC that National Amusements Inc. (NCI), through which he controls both CBS Corp. and Viacom, is about to become debt-free. Therefore, he will never again have NCI sell any more of its CBS or Viacom stock.
“We don’t have to sell any stock and we’ll never sell another share again, and those who think I will sell CBS, they don’t know what they are talking about,” said Redstone.
NAI announced the sale of large chunks of CBS and Viacom in October as part of a financial restructuring to get out from under an unmanageable debt burden. It will soon complete the sale of much of its overseas theatre holdings and some in the US, while holding onto its core theaters in the US and those in the UK and Brazil.
“It’s been a very, very, very tough road, but frankly, I don’t want to sound arrogant, it’s ended up on a very triumphant note. Today, National is doing great, Viacom is doing great, CBS is doing great, that makes me feel good,” Redstone said in the CNBC interview.
RBR-TVBR observation: How many times did Sumner Redstone say he would never sell any CBS or Viacom stock, before he sold shares of CBS and Viacom? We’ve lost count.
