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Viacom Completes Split Into 2 Companies

Viacom, the entertainment company controlled by Sumner M. Redstone, said in a statement that it had completed a plan to split itself into two companies, the CBS Corporation and Viacom Inc.

Shares of the New York-based companies will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow. They have changed hands on a when-issued basis since Dec. 5.

Investors are to receive one CBS share and one Viacom share for each two of Viacom that they now own. Both stocks will be part of the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.

When-issued shares of the "new" Viacom were unchanged Dec. 30 at $40, down 6.7 percent since Dec. 5. CBS rose 50 cents, to $25.50, down 4.5 percent since it started trading.

Mr. Redstone engineered the breakup, which was announced in June 2005, to separate faster-growing Viacom from CBS, which owns radio and television networks.

Viacom owns the MTV cable television business and the Paramount Pictures studio. CBS owns Simon & Schuster publishers, the Showtime cable network and Paramount Parks. In the reorganization, Mr. Redstone will be chairman of both companies; he handed the chief executive posts to Thomas Freston at Viacom and to Leslie Moonves at CBS.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section C, Page 2 of the National edition with the headline: Viacom Completes Split Into 2 Companies. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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