Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation

Viacom’s subsequent merger with Blockbuster added video rental and music retail operations to its considerable film, cable, television, and publishing holdings. The combination created one of the most diversified entertainment companies in the world.

…shares in Comedy Central and Blockbuster Inc. (sold by means of a stock spin-off in 2004). Redstone had borrowed against his Blockbuster shares to acquire Paramount Pictures in 1993. In 1999 Viacom purchased CBS for $37 billion—the largest entertainment merger up to that date—which made it a peer of American…