Viacom Braces for New CEO by Cutting Dividend, Profit Forecast
- Interim chief Tom Dooley will leave the company in November
- Viacom halved its dividend to 20 cents; will boost liquidity
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Viacom Inc., reeling from a legal battle for control of the media giant and hamstrung by more than $12 billion in debt, cut its quarterly dividend in half and said interim Chief Executive Officer Tom Dooley will leave.
Viacom slashed the dividend to 20 cents a share and said it plans to access debt markets “shortly” to boost liquidity, according to a statement Wednesday. The owner of cable network MTV has $1.4 billion of debt maturing over the next year, and more than $10 billion owed on top of that.