After a three-year campaign by Shari Redstone, Chairwoman of the two companies and daughter of media mogul and billionaire Sumner Redstone, Viacom and CBS merged to become ViacomCBS, Inc. on December 4, 2019 in an all-stock transaction worth nearly $12 billion. (Meg James, Los Angeles Times). The newly merged company was listed on the Nasdaq on December 5, 2019 under the tickers “VIACA” as the Class A stock and “VIAC” as the Class B stock. (Staff, Business Wire). CBS and Viacom are two mass media companies that create and distribute content across a variety of platforms in almost every field of media and entertainment. Id. In previous years, the two companies have merged twice with their most recent merge occurring in 1999, lasting until 2006 where Sumner Redstone split the merged entity. (Jonathan Barr, Forbes). This history makes the two media giants no strangers to federal regulatory authorities, and the merger follows the lead of other major players in the entertainment industry (“Big Media”).
Read MoreThe House of Representatives passed H.R. 1595 – Secure And Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019 (“SAFE Act”) on September 25, 2019, in a historic step toward federal marijuana legalization. (Jeff Smith, Marijuana Business Daily). Introduced by Representative Ed Perlmutter (D-Co.), the SAFE Act, which required a two-thirds majority in the House, passed with a vote of 321-103 in a rare showing of bipartisan support. Id. Under current federal money laundering statutes, any financial firm that provides services to a cannabis company, regardless of its operation in a legal state, faces heavy financial penalties. (Lane and Gangitano, The Hill). However, under the SAFE Act, financial institutions and insurance companies could provide commercial banking services to state-legal cannabis companies without fear of federal penalty. (Staff, Marijuana Business Daily).
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