Page 25 - ATODAY

BUSINESS Tuesday 13 december 2016
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Redstone firm calls off CBS, Viacom merger proposal

MAE ANDERSON voting shares of the two Showtime and other enti- The company named Rob- daughter, Shari Redstone,
Associated Press companies, had urged the ties, it makes more sense for ert Bakish as acting presi- over control of the com-
ATLANTA (AP) — Media mo- companies to combine the companies to continue dent in late October and pany. The fight ended with
gul Sumner Redstone’s Na- in September, saying that as separate entities. appointed him permanent Shari Redstone as a Via-
tional Amusements is aban- a tie-up would help them Viacom, which owns the president and CEO on com director and president
doning a proposal that CBS compete better as technol- Paramount Pictures movie Monday. of National Amusements,
and Viacom reunite after a ogy and the entertainment studio and pay TV channels The appointment caps which has a controlling
10 year split. industry rapidly evolve. such as Comedy Central, off a management saga stake in CBS and Viacom.
The news comes as Via- Now, the company, run by MTV, BET and others, has that culminated earlier this At the time Tom Dooley
com named acting CEO Redstone and his daugh- been struggling to improve year, when longtime Via- was named interim CEO,
Bob Bakish as its permanent ter Shari, says that follow- its profit as Paramount has com CEO Phillipe Dauman but he announced unex-
head. ing management changes struggled to produce hits was pushed out following pectedly he was leaving
National Amusements, at Viacom and strength at and cable viewership de- a legal battle with media in October and Bakish was
which owns most of the CBS, which operates CBS, clines. mogul Sumner Redstone’s then named acting CEO.q
AP Analysis: Will oil producers’ cut have lasting impact?

to agree on such a move. pected to rise strongly, as said “we remain skeptical
That, the additional reduc- the world economy strug- ... despite talk of this being
tion by other 11 nations, gles. China’s economy, a ‘historic demonstration
and Saudi Arabia’s pledge with its massive, energy- of unity.’” “This is because
to cut its production even hungry manufacturing sec- we are convinced that the
further if needed, is leaving tor, is slowing. And Europe’s expectations relating to
even hardnosed analysts economy, a net importer of voluntary production cuts,
impressed. oil and gas, is stagnant. which have been driven to
Jason Schenker of Prestige Compliance is also an is- excessively high levels in re-
Economics calls Saturday’s sue. Past OPEC attempts cent weeks by oil produc-
decision “a historic deal,” to reduce output and push ers, cannot be fulfilled.”
and there is little doubt prices upward have failed The pacing of the cuts
that in the short term the due to members pumping also could dent produc-
combined cut will result in above their quotas. That ers’ hopes that enough
somewhat more pricey oil contributed to the world- crude will be withdrawn in
— and, by extension, car wide glut that combined real time to push prices sig-
People stand outside the headquarters of the Organization of fuel, heating and electric- with feeble economies of nificantly higher in the long
the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, in Vienna, Austria.
(AP Photo/Ronald Zak) ity. But the upward trend consuming countries to run.
might soon peter out, leav- bring down prices to as low Russia has said it will cut
GEORGE JAHN weekend — and with rea- ing prices well short of the as $35 early this year. And daily output by 300,000
Associated Press son. highs of around $100 a bar- outside OPEC, some of the barrels. But it plans to drib-
VIENNA (AP) — It seems Less than two weeks after rel last seen two years ago. cutbacks will be difficult to ble out its share of the re-
like a big deal. But the joint members of the Organiza- President-elect Donald verify, leaving no choice duction over the coming
production cut from OPEC tion of the Petroleum Ex- Trump has promised to free but to take the word of the months and JBC Energy
and non-OPEC countries — porting countries agreed up more oil drilling in the country involved that it is said in a research note that
the first in 15 years — might to pare 1.2 million barrels U.S., which would increase fulfilling its pledge. the strategy will translate
push up the price of oil less a day of their production, global supply. More U.S. Noting such big ifs, analysts into a drop of only 80,000
than the nations involved they were joined by nearly shale oil, which was un- at German bank Commer- Russian barrels for the first
are banking on. a dozen outsiders Saturday profitable to produce at zbank, in a research note half of next year. q
At well over $50 a barrel, who pledged an addition the price lows around $35
oil prices remained buoy- daily 558,000-barrel cut. a barrel touched earlier
ant and well above re- The OPEC cutback alone this year, could become vi-
cent norms on Monday, would have been notewor- able again, further increas-
reflecting the cutbacks to thy as the first time in eight ing supply.
production agreed to this years the cartel was able And demand is not ex-
Titans of industry spring $1B clean energy fund

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some The coalition wants to torney General Scott Pruitt,
big names with big money magnify the speed and a global warming skeptic,
have jumped into the alter- scale at which promising to lead the Environmental
native energy race. energy breakthroughs are Protection Agency.
The Breakthrough Energy introduced to the $6 trillion Pruitt has argued that EPA
Coalition, which counts energy market. rules to curb carbon emis-
among its members Bill In a printed statement, sions drive up electricity
Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Gates said, “Our goal is to rates, undermine the na-
George Soros, Saudi Ara- build companies that will tion’s power grid and “cre-
bia’s Prince Alwaleed bin help deliver the next gen- ate economic havoc.”
Talal, Alibaba’s Jack Ma eration of reliable, afford- The first in a list of invest-
and Richard Branson, an- able, and emissions-free ment criteria released by
nounced a $1 billion invest- energy to the world.” the coalition Monday was
ment fund to support new The announcement comes technologies with the po-
energy ventures. less than a week after Pres- tential to reduce green-
The new group is holding a ident-elect Donald Trump house gas emissions by at
news conference Monday confirmed that he would least a half gigaton. q
to outline its goals. nominate Oklahoma At-