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ViacomCBS Inc. shares tumbled 21.3% Wednesday, after the media and entertainment giant priced a roughly $3 billion offering of equity securities to raise the funds to invest in its new streaming service.
Paramount+ launched on March 4 and is now competing with heavy hitters, including Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
Walt Disney Co.’s
DIS,
Disney+ and AT&T Inc.’s
T,
new HBO Max.
ViacomCBS shares
VIAC,
have been on a tear and closed at a record of $100.34 on Monday, marking a 12th record close so far this month. The stock has doubled over the past three months, and the company took advantage to issue new securities.
Wednesday’s selloff is on track to be the biggest one-day percentage decline since the stock went public, according to FactSet data.
The company priced $20 million shares of its Class B common stock at $85 a share, and priced 10 million shares of its 5.75% mandatory convertible preferred stock at $100 a share.
Underwriters led by Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Mizuho Securities and Siebert Williams Shank have the option to purchase up to an additional 3 million Class B shares and up to an additional 1.5 million shares of mandatory convertible preferred stock. The company expects to raise $3.06 billion if both options are exercised.
See:Disney+ tops 100 million paid subscribers
Related: Disney earnings: Surge by Disney+ to nearly 95 million subscriptions leads to surprise profit
The company is planning to apply to list the mandatory convertible preferred stock on Nasdaq, under the ticker “VIACP.”
Paramount+ has two subscription tiers; one with advertising that costs $4.99 a month and a premium version with some extra programming that costs $9.99.
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Paramount Studios has joined other major Hollywood studios in slashing the traditional 90-day theatrical window, the period during which films are exclusively shown in cinemas before they head to streaming services. The company will send new releases, including ““Mission: Impossible 7” and “A Quiet Place Part II,” to Paramount+, after 45 days in theaters, as the Associated Press reported.
ViacomCBS has also struck a deal with Epix to add thousands of films to the service. On the television side, the big series will be the revival of “Frasier” with Kelsey Grammer, series based on movies such as “The Italian Job,” “Flashdance” and “Fatal Attraction”; revivals of “Criminal Minds” and ‘Reno 911!”; a weekly show from “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah; and a bolstered Nickelodeon lineup, including “Avatar: The Last Airbender” spinoffs, a “Rugrats” revival, and live-action adaptations of “Dora the Explorer” and “Fairly OddParents.”
