Speaking at an investor conference on Monday, Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman said that a company restructuring should be completed by the end of the month and result in $250 million in savings.
In the past month, Viacom has made layoffs at many of its units, particularly in the advertising sales department, and brought networks like TV Land and CMT into its kids and family group. Faced with challenges on the ratings and advertising fronts, Viacom has made deep cuts at some divisions including MTV, which reportedly has lost about nine percent of its workforce.
At a Deutsche Bank conference, Dauman said it was time to re-evaluate some programming while continuing to invest for digital and mobile delivery of content.
Dauman also shot down reports that Viacom would be interested in re-teaming with CBS.
“We have no intention of buying CBS or buying any big company,” he said. “We have lot to do to grow organically. If we see there’s lot of consolidation, we’ll take a look at it, but we’re not going to be a consolidator.”
Viacom’s chief also said there was no truth to the rumor that the company would be selling Paramount or a stake in the studio to a Chinese company.
“It’s completely untrue,” he said, calling the source of information unreliable. “People see meetings being done and they like to think that it is transformational.”
