2005 media conglomerate named cbs corporation . for the holding company known as cbs corporation from 1997 to 2000 see westinghouse electric 1886 . for this company s history before 2000 and the viacom cbs split see viacom original and cbs . for the company now known as viacom see viacom . cbs corporation cbs corporation s headquarters in the cbs building new york city . type public traded as nyse cbs nyse cbs.a s & p 500 component industry mass media predecessor viacom inc. westinghouse electric corporation founded may 3 1971 ; 45 years ago 1971 05 03 as viacom international viacom productions january 3 2006 ; 10 years ago 2006 01 03 n 1 as cbs corporation headquarters cbs building manhattan new york united states area served united states key people sumner redstone chairman emeritus leslie moonves president ceo and exec . chairman products movie production tv production broadcasting cable television record label publishing internet revenue us 13.88 billion 2015 1 operating income us 2.417 billion 2015 1 net income us 1.413 billion 2015 1 total assets us 23.76 billion 2015 1 total equity us 5.563 billion 2015 1 owner national amusements 80 % divisions cbs cbs interactive cbs radio cbs records cbs sports network cbs television distribution cbs television studios cbs films subsidiaries westinghouse licensing corporation showtime networks simon & schuster digital assets of tv guide the cw 50 % pop 50 % full list of assets here website www.cbscorporation.com cbs corporation is an american mass media corporation focused on commercial broadcasting publishing and television production with most of its operations in the united states . the president chief executive and executive chairman of the company is leslie moonves . sumner redstone owner of national amusements is cbs s majority shareholder and serves as chairman emeritus . the company began trading on the nyse on january 3 2006 . until then the corporation was known as viacom and is the legal successor to said company . 2 a new company keeping the viacom name was spun off from cbs . cbs not viacom retains control of over the air television cbs cw and radio broadcasting tv production and distribution publishing pay cable basic cable pop and recording formerly owned by the larger company . cbs has its headquarters in cbs building midtown manhattan new york city united states . 3 contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 transactions during and after the merger 1.2.1 2004 1.2.2 2005 1.2.3 2006 1.2.3.1 the cw 1.2.3.2 paramount parks 1.2.4 2007 1.2.5 2008 1.2.6 2013 1.2.7 2014 1.3 possible re merger with viacom 2 corporate governance 3 assets 4 see also 4.1 notes 5 references 6 external links history edit early years edit main article viacom original viacom was created in 1971 as the television syndication division of cbs and was spun off in 1971 . however in 1999 viacom acquired its former parent by this time also named cbs corporation formerly westinghouse electric . the prior cbs corporation also owned cmt and the nashville network now spike which remained viacom properties after the 2005 split but the prior cbs did not own upn showtime paramount television paramount parks or simon and schuster . in march 2005 viacom announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies amid issues of the stock price stagnating although it was alleged that another main force behind the split was the super bowl xxxviii halftime show controversy which led to mtv not being allowed to produce any more halftime shows they had also produced the show for super bowl xxxv the first super bowl cbs aired since regaining nfl rights and becoming mtv s corporate sibling . old separate viacom logo 1990 2005 . on june 14 2005 the viacom board of directors approved the split of the company into two firms . 4 the cbs corporation name would be revived for one of the companies to be headed by longtime television executive and viacom co president leslie moonves and would include cbs upn infinity broadcasting viacom outdoor showtime networks and paramount s television studio . the split was structured such that the new viacom was spun off from the old viacom which was renamed cbs corporation . in a sense this was a repeat of the 1971 spinoff . however in this case cbs retained virtually all of the prior firm s broadcast tv assets including its various syndication companies . with the split the two new companies began trading on the nyse on january 3 2006 . investors anticipated viacom benefiting from the split but instead it dropped approximately 20 percent while cbs rose 9 percent . 5 transactions during and after the merger edit 2004 edit in the interim viacom cbs was involved in a number of transactions . on december 2 2004 viacom acquired cbs affiliate kovr in sacramento from sinclair broadcast group . viacom also acquired two stations in west palm beach . 2005 edit viacom cbs has announced it would sell several non duopoly upn affiliates in indianapolis columbus new orleans and oklahoma city with possibilities of additional sales . cbs announced on november 3 2005 that it would acquire college sports tv now cbs sports network for us 325 million . ceo of cstv brian bedol will continue to run that network and report to leslie moonves chairman of cbs . the transaction was completed in january 2006 . 2006 edit announced early in 2006 cbs and dic entertainment signed a multi year deal to provide three hours of programming that meet fcc standards for educational programming . the block would be called kol secret slumber party on cbs which is also a partnership with america online s kol kids service and premiered on september 16 2006 . shows included are sabrina the animated series horseland madeline dance revolution and many others . 6 it was originally supposed to be called cbs s saturday morning secret slumber party but was renamed with kol s alliance . 7 the cw edit main article the cw the cw logo on january 24 2006 cbs corporation and warner bros. announced that they were to create a new broadcast network the cw television network . the network officially debuted on september 18 2006 . the network formally debuted on september 20 with the 2 hour premiere of america s next top model . the network is the result of a merger of the wb a warner brothers holding and upn a cbs corporation holding . cbs corporation and time warner each own 50 % of the network . tribune broadcasting which previously owned a 25 % stake on the wb and cbs corporation will contribute its stations as new network affiliates . paramount parks edit main article paramount parks three days after the announcement of the cw on january 27 cbs announced that it was selling its paramount parks division . on may 23 2006 cbs corp. sold paramount parks to the cedar fair entertainment company . with this acquisition cedar fair became the third largest theme park operator citation needed . on june 30 2006 cedar fair announced that it has completed its acquisition of paramount parks from cbs corporation in a cash transaction valued at us 1.24 billion . the transaction included a 10 year license that allowed cedar fair to use the paramount name in the parks through the 2017 season . citation needed 2007 edit february 7 cbs announced it was selling seven stations in providence rhode island austin texas salt lake city and west palm beach florida to cerberus capital management for us 185 million . 8 it sold another station wfrv tv in green bay wisconsin and its satellite station wjmn tv in escanaba michigan to liberty media on february 13 2007 . 9 news reports estimate the deal at about us 234 million . cbs is swapping the stations and us 170 million in cash for 7.59 million shares of cbs common stock held by liberty media . february 26 cbs announced that it will invest in electric sheep which is a virtual world content developer . cbs hired electric sheep to develop some projects including the creation of the l word in second life . cbs also shot a commercial within the virtual world second life so to promote its show two and a half men . another project that electric sheep is working on for cbs is a star trek themed area in second life . by investing in electric sheep cbs hopes to expand its activity beyond the living room . 10 march 20 cbs cstv announced it had acquired an online high school sports network maxpreps . 11 april 12 cbs corporation announces the creation of the cbs interactive audience network . 12 may 30 cbs interactive announced that it had bought last.fm for 140 million . 13 2008 edit may 15 cbs interactive announced that it had agreed to buy cnet networks for 1.8 billion with the deal due to close in the third quarter of 2008 . 14 during the july 2nd noon broadcast kyw tv a cbs owned and operated station in philadelphia announced that its parent acquired cnet and was putting it under cbs interactive . 15 2013 edit february 14 cbs acquires a minority stake in axs tv in exchange for programming and marketing . 16 march 26 cbs and lionsgate enter a 50 50 joint venture to operate the tv guide network tvgn and tvguide.com . 17 18 may 31 cbs buys the remaining half of tv guide digital from lionsgate . the latter still retains its share of tvgn . 19 july 16 cbs agreed to sell cbs outdoor international to platinum equity for about 225m . 20 2014 edit march 28 cbs outdoor division begins trading as a separate company on the nyse under cbso . cbs outdoor would be fully divested from cbs by july into an independent real estate investment trust renamed as outfront media . possible re merger with viacom edit on september 29 2016 national amusements sent a letter to both the company and viacom encouraging the two companies to re merge back into one company . 21 corporate governance edit the board of directors of cbs corp. include david r. andelman joseph a. califano jr. william s. cohen gary l. countryman charles k. gifford leonard goldberg bruce s. gordon linda m. griego arnold kopelson leslie moonves doug morris shari redstone non executive vice chair sumner redstone chairman frederic v. salerno assets edit further information list of assets owned by cbs see also edit new york city portal companies portal viacom original the prior name of the post 2005 cbs corporation . cbs corporation 1997 an old instance of the company purchased by the old viacom in 1999 viacom the current viacom broke off in 2005 . cbs television stations the holding company that assumes operation of cbs corp. s television stations . concentration of media ownership and media conglomerate mtv networks bet networks part of the new viacom corporation . notes edit the viacom cbs split was structured in such a way that the existing company viacom changed its name to cbs corporation while the new viacom is actually a newly founded spin off company . for this reason the newly rechristened cbs corporation is actually the same company viacom that was founded in 1986 . the 1986 viacom in turn was the successor to a previous company also known as viacom and founded in 1971 . references edit a b c d e cbs corporation 2015 annual report form 10 k . edgar . united states securities and exchange commission . february 27 2016 . retrieved december 21 2015 . certain federal income tax information regarding the separation of viacom inc. pdf . cbs corporation . january 12 2006 . archived from the original pdf on 2008 06 25 . retrieved 2008 11 30 . contact info . cbs corporation . retrieved on