Viacom CBS Merger

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Viacom; the parent company of Paramount Pictures is in talks with CBS for a potential merger (as ViacomCBS). At the time of writing of this post, the question is ‘when?’ and not ‘if?’, since internal townhall sessions are taking place at Viacom/Paramount in preparation for the merger.

There are some exciting news and rumors coming out of Paramount side, with regards to Transformers and G.I. Joe franchises. TFW2005 Network decided to dig in to learn more.

Extension of Jim Gianopulos and Elizabeth Raposo.
Hasbro-Paramount agreement.
Potential live action TV series.
CBS Showtime and Paramount movies.
You can read our report on the above mentioned subjects, after the jump.


Extension of Jim Gianopulos and Elizabeth Raposo.
Speaking to the gathered investors and press, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish spoke highly of Paramount Pictures. For the first time in many years Paramount is on the brink of achieving full year (4 quarter) profit. This is all thanks to Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos. As a result, Viacom has recently decided to extend Jim Gianopulos’ stay as they enter a brand new era with CBS.

Mr. Gianopulos took over Paramount after a disastrous year where Transformers: The Last Knight nearly brought about the end of Paramount. He was tasked to immediately find substitute investors instead of HuaHua Media who were supposed to fund the Transformers Cinematic Universe and 50% of all Paramount Pictures movies for [then] next 4 years. He did exactly that… and more.

Jim Gianopulos course-corrected Transformers: Bumblebee; resulting in a worldwide approval from critics. He penned a brand new deal with Hasbro which is [currently] set to expire at the end of 2022.

Meanwhile Elizabeth Raposo is also extended. Raposo is the Paramount Pictures head of production on Transformers Live Action Movies. This is a great news for Transformers fans since the presence of the movies is extended instead of being omitted with the merger.

Hasbro-Paramount Agreement.
At the end of 2017, Paramount reached Hasbro for an agreement to a brand new 5-year deal. The agreement gave Hasbro more say in movies developed by Paramount which are based on Hasbro properties.

Hasbro’s Allspark Pictures and Allspark Animation will play an active role alongside Paramount in content development and production under this relationship and Hasbro will play a more significant role in financing the films as well.

We currently do not have any concrete information regarding how the merger will affect this agreement. However, Paramount is continuing to develop two G.I. Joe live action movies, one Micronauts live action movie, one Dungeons and Dragons live action movie and one Bayblade live action movie over the next 3 years. Therefore, the current agreement may not deal with a significant impact due to the merger.

Potential live action TV series.
With it, we are coming in for a potential rumor coming from Paramount’s side. With a TV giant such as CBS at the helm, rumor has it that a couple of TV Series based on Transformers and G.I. Joe properties are in the cards. But of course, this is just a rumor only and therefore we must take it with a grain of salt. Hasbro must agree (and make a new deal) in order for this to come to fruition.

CBS Showtime and Paramount Movies
Moving away from the rumor, it was confirmed that CBS’ premium channel, Showtime, will have access to movies from Paramount Pictures’ deep library, which includes Transformers and G.I. Joe.

The movies will also be available on demand, and therefore giving another easy access to the fans.