ViacomCBS shares were up more than 5% in trading Friday, reflecting renewed investor interest in the company following the death earlier this week of chairman emeritus Sumner Redstone.
The movement for ViacomCBS shares comes on a down day overall so far for the NASDAQ index. News of the Redstone’s death on Aug. 11 at the age of 97 has sparked speculation that his successor, ViacomCBS chairman Shari Redstone, may now be more inclined to sell the media conglomerate that her father built starting in the late 1980s.
For the year to date, ViacomCBS shares are down 33%, in keeping with massive declines for most media stocks amid pandemic-driven business disruptions. The report that surfaced on Thursday about ViacomCBS striking a bundling deal with Apple TV Plus for its CBS All Access and Showtime streaming services is also seen as a driver of Friday’s stock movement.
ViacomCBS shares hovered around the $28 mark after two hours of trading on Friday. The stock fell below $12 at the start of the pandemic lockdown in mid-March but has been above $20 since late May.
More to come