National Amusements

National Amusements, Inc.
FormerlyNortheast Theater Corporation (1936–1959)
Company typePrivate
IndustryEntertainment
Founded1936; 88 years ago (1936) in Dedham, Massachusetts
FounderMichael Redstone
FateAcquisition by Skydance Media (pending)
Headquarters
Norwood, Massachusetts
,
U.S.
Key people
Shari Redstone (chairwoman, president and CEO)
ProductsMovie theaters
OwnerRedstone family
Number of employees
23,900 (2017)
DivisionsShowcase Cinemas
SubsidiariesParamount Global (9.76% of total shares and 77.4% of total voting power)[1]
UCI Cinemas (Brazil)

National Amusements, Inc. is an American privately owned movie theater operator and mass media holding company incorporated in Maryland and based in Norwood, Massachusetts.[2]

The company owns 71 theaters and 689 screens throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and Latin America under several brands, such as Showcase Cinemas, Multiplex Cinemas, and Cinema de Lux. It is the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global.

National Amusements was founded by Michael Redstone, and later passed to his son Sumner Redstone. After his 2020 death, the company was passed to a trust led by his daughter Shari Redstone. After nearly 90 years of control by the Redstone family, in July 2024, David Ellison's Skydance Media announced its intent to acquire National Amusements and perform an all-stock merger between it and Paramount Global.[3]

History

[edit]
The evolution of Paramount
1886Westinghouse Electric Corporation is founded as Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company
1912Famous Players Film Company is founded
1913Lasky Feature Play Company is founded
1914Paramount Pictures is founded
1916Famous Players and Lasky merge as Famous Players–Lasky and acquire Paramount
1927Famous Players–Lasky renamed to Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation; CBS is founded with investment from Columbia Records
1929Paramount acquires 49% of CBS
1930Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation renamed to Paramount Publix Corporation
1932Paramount sells back its shares of CBS
1934Gulf+Western is founded as the Michigan Bumper Corporation
1935Paramount Publix Corporation renamed to Paramount Pictures
1936National Amusements is founded as Northeast Theater Corporation
1938CBS acquires Columbia Records
1950Desilu is founded and CBS distributes its television programs
1952CBS creates the CBS Television Film Sales division
1958CBS Television Film Sales renamed to CBS Films
1966Gulf+Western acquires Paramount
1967Gulf+Western acquires Desilu and renames it Paramount Television (now CBS Studios)
1968CBS Films renamed to CBS Enterprises
1970CBS Enterprises renamed to Viacom
1971Viacom is spun off from CBS
1987National Amusements acquires Viacom
1988CBS sells Columbia Records to Sony
1989Gulf+Western renamed to Paramount Communications
1994Viacom acquires Paramount Communications
1995Westinghouse acquires CBS
1997Westinghouse renamed to CBS Corporation
2000Viacom acquires UPN and CBS Corporation
2005Viacom splits into second CBS Corporation and Viacom
2006CBS Corporation shuts down UPN and replaces it with The CW
2017CBS Corporation sells CBS Radio to Entercom (now Audacy)
2019CBS Corporation and Viacom re-merge as ViacomCBS
2022ViacomCBS renamed to Paramount Global
2024Skydance Media and Paramount Global agree to merge

The company was founded by Michael Redstone in 1936 in the Boston suburb of Dedham as Northeast Theater Corporation, operating a chain of movie theaters in the region. In 1959, when the founder's son Sumner Redstone joined the company, it was renamed National Amusements, the present name.

On June 10, 1987, the company became the majority owner of the original incarnation of Viacom,[4] a former CBS subsidiary syndicating television programs to stations around the United States. Since the buyout, Viacom continued to expand through purchases from the early 1990s to the early 2000s, announcing plans to merge with Paramount Communications (formerly Gulf+Western), parent of Paramount Pictures, in 1993 (which closed in 1994), buying the Blockbuster Video chain in 1994, merging with the original CBS Corporation in 2000,[5] and acquiring BET Holdings (which became BET Media Group) in 2001.[6]

In March 2005, due to Viacom's declining stock price, National Amusements announced that it would split its media subsidiary into two companies that would remain under its control, which was completed on December 31.[7][8] The original Viacom became the second CBS Corporation as it kept CBS, Simon & Schuster,[9] and Paramount Network Television (now CBS Studios), among other assets, while MTV Networks, BET Media Group, and Paramount Pictures were spun-off to a sister company under the Viacom name. The second iterations of Viacom and CBS Corporation commenced trading on January 3, 2006.[10]

At the end of 2008, due to financial troubles, owners Sumner Redstone and Shari Redstone sold $400 million of nonvoting shares in National Amusements.[11][12] In October 2009, the company sold almost $1 billion of its interest in the stock of CBS and Viacom[13] and sold 35 theaters to Rave Motion Pictures. Today these theatres are owned by Cinemark, AMC, Alamo, or have closed. National Amusements now almost exclusively operates theaters in the Northeastern United States (with the exception of one location in Ohio).[14] The following year, National Amusements planned to sell $390 million of notes to refinance a large part of the company's bank owed debt.[15]

In 2019, it was announced that the multinational media conglomerates controlled by National Amusements — Viacom and CBS Corporation — would re-merge to form a new company named ViacomCBS.[16] Viacom and CBS announced that the merger would close on December 4;[17][18] following the official close,[19] the company began trading on the NASDAQ the following day. In 2022, the company was renamed Paramount Global.[20]

Sumner Redstone, who was National Amusements' chairman, CEO and owner, died on August 11, 2020.[21] His holdings were transferred to a trust led by his daughter Shari Redstone.[22]

In January 2024, it was reported that film producer David Ellison was interested in buying National Amusements from the Redstones. If the acquisition would be closed, the company would be placed under Ellison's Skydance Media.[23] On July 2, it was reported that Skydance had reached a preliminary agreement, and that it had been referred to a special committee of Paramount's board for approval.[24][25][26] On July 7, Skydance officially announced its intent to acquire Paramount Global, under a process in which Skydance will acquire National Amusements for $2.4 billion, pay Paramount's Class A and Class B stockholders $4.5 billion in cash and shares, and then perform an all-stock merger between Paramount and Skydance.[27][28][29]

Current operations

[edit]
City Center 15 Cinema de Lux in White Plains, New York. The lobby includes a waiting area with a television, newspaper rack and sofas (left), a piano (right of center), and a restaurant (not pictured).

The company operates more than 1,500 movie screens across the Northeastern United States, the United Kingdom, and Latin America under its Showcase Cinemas, Showcase Cinema de Lux, Multiplex Cinemas, and Cinema de Lux. In Canada, National Amusements, through its 1994 acquisition of Viacom, also owned Famous Players; individual cinemas from the now-defunct chain are now owned by Cineplex Entertainment and Landmark Cinemas. In 2004, National Amusements acquired the Brazilian operations to cinema chain UCI, and revamped them so they could be more in line with their Showcase chain. They also share some of the corporate identities of Showcase and have XPlus & De Lux rooms in selected cinemas, as well as fully reclining seats.

National Amusements owns a 9.7% equity stake and 79.9% voting interest in Paramount Global, and used to operate its predecessors, the second CBS Corporation and the second Viacom before their closure in 2019, both split from the also defunct First Viacom.[30] The company may hold an unspecified stake in Audacy, Inc., as part of the reverse Morris trust that spun CBS's radio assets off to that company; CBS Corporation shareholders overall held a 72% stake in the then-named Entercom as of the spin-off.[31]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Inline XBRL Viewer".
  2. ^ U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2018-03-26). "U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR".
  3. ^ "Paramount Global agrees to merge with Skydance Media".
  4. ^ "Viacom Inc. acquires Viacom International Inc". Los Angeles Times. June 10, 1987. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  5. ^ "CBS And Viacom Complete Merger". www.cbsnews.com. April 26, 2000. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  6. ^ "Viacom buys BET for $2.3B in stock - Nov. 3, 2000". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  7. ^ Friedman, Wayne (June 15, 2005). "Viacom, CBS Set To Split--Again". MediaPost. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  8. ^ Wilkerson, David B. (October 18, 2005). "Viacom moves up split date". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on August 10, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  9. ^ "Bertelsmann buys Simon & Schuster for $2.2 billion in U.S. publishing play". Reuters. 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  10. ^ Alfano, Sean (January 3, 2006). "CBS, Viacom Formally Split". CBS News. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  11. ^ James, Meg (October 11, 2008). "Redstone hit by credit troubles". LA Times. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  12. ^ "Report: Shari Redstone Rejected $1 Billion Buyout Offer of Her Stake in Family Empire". Variety. 21 December 2015.
  13. ^ Edward B. Colby (2009-10-14). "National Amusements Inc. to sell nearly $1B of its Viacom, CBS stock". The Daily News Transcript. Archived from the original on 2010-04-24.
  14. ^ Nikki Finke (2009-12-07). "Rave To Acquire 35 Of Redstone's National Amusements Theater Complexes". Archived from the original on 2013-02-15.
  15. ^ Korby, Boris; Maheshwari, Sapna (November 23, 2010). "National Amusements Plans to Sell $390 Million of Notes to Refinance Debt". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  16. ^ "Media giants to merge in latest mega-deal". 2019-08-13. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  17. ^ "CBS Corporation and Viacom Inc. Announce Expected Closing Date of Merger". Business Wire. November 25, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  18. ^ "CBS and Viacom Reveal December Merger Date – Mark Your Calendars". November 25, 2019.
  19. ^ Weprin, Alex (December 4, 2019). "Bob Bakish's Memo to ViacomCBS Staff: Merger "A Historic Moment"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  20. ^ Mullin, Benjamin; Chin, Kimberly (15 February 2022). "ViacomCBS Renames Itself Paramount". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  21. ^ Kandell, Jonathan (2020-08-12). "Sumner Redstone Dies at 97; Built Media Empire and Long Reigned Over It". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  22. ^ Sherman, Alex (2020-08-12). "Sumner Redstone handed a media empire to his daughter, Shari, who now controls its fate". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  23. ^ "David Ellison Makes Offer for Redstone Family's Media Empire". Bloomberg.com. 2024-01-24. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  24. ^ Mullin, Benjamin; Hirsch, Lauren (2024-07-02). "Paramount and Skydance Are Said to Reach a Deal to Merge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  25. ^ Hayden, Erik (2 July 2024). "They're Back: Skydance and Paramount Restart Talks". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  26. ^ Rizzo, Lillian (July 2, 2024). "Skydance and National Amusements near Paramount deal as special committee reviews terms". NBC News. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  27. ^ Mullin, Benjamin (2024-07-07). "Meet David Ellison, Paramount's Future Boss and Hollywood's Newest Mogul". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  28. ^ Picchi, Aimee; Sherter, Alain (July 8, 2024). "Paramount Global to merge with Skydance Media". CBS News. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  29. ^ Hayes, Dade (2024-07-08). "Top Of The Mountain: David Ellison's Skydance Taking Over Paramount After $8 Billion Investment". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
  30. ^ "2021 Proxy Statement". ViacomCBS, Inc. Archived from the original on March 26, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  31. ^ "CBS Sets Radio Division Merger With Entercom". Variety. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Stewart, James B.; Rachel Abrams (2023). Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 9781984879424. OCLC 1365390478.
[edit]
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