." investors are waiting to see if cbs and viacom actually do agree to merge. the two media companies are both controlled by the redstone family investment vehicle. they've been in talks on and off for years. the exchange ratio in an all stock transaction has stalled the latest negotiations. a deal could be announced today. another sign verizon is dismantling its online empire, the wireless empire agreed to sell the blogging platform ownerr to publishing site automatic. sold for ats tumblr fraction of the $1.1 billion it fetched. shares of cathay pacific kept falling, closing down more than 2% a day after hitting a two-year low. thisy canceling hungered -- canceling hundreds more flights as protests continue at the hong kong airport. taylor: thank you. that story about cathay pacific, biggesthina's investment arms downgrading cathay pacific in part because of the protests and the unrest we are seeing within the hong kong airport. we had some conflicting reports. we saw that all the flights were canceled. now it seems that maybe check ins were postponed. we have a lot going on with hon

u.s. media as cbs agrees to merge with viacom in a long awaited deal. shares of apple and chipmakers soared in tuesday trading after the u.s. delayed a 10% tariff certain imports including smartphones as well as laptops. before boarding a helicopter in new jersey, president trump said "in case it has an impact on people, what we have done is delay it so they won't be relevant during the christmas shopping season." to discuss in washington, the president of the u.s.-china business council. ., bloomberg's l.a sarah mcgregor. sarah, do we have any idea what the motivation is for the change of heart? sarah: we do know that the news gave a bump to the stock market. we saw some retail and technology stocks go up today. there have been some declines in share prices in recent weeks since tariff announced -- since trump announced the tariff. of course, that is an immediate cheer from the market. what we don't know what was discussed between officials of the china and the u.s. on the phone call. we know that the trump administration was waiting out on purposes -- on purchases from china and ot

midwest. >> cbs and viacom finally reunite. another parade of earnings were ad revenues -- >> the focus is on the decline in online ad revenues. >> not a lot of great news lately. >> baseline does not suggest a session, but these factors, keep an eye on them. kailey: it is ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ kailey: hello and welcome. this is "bloomberg best." the review of the most important news and analysis from bloomberg television around the world. let's look at the top headlines. we begin with investors jolted by political shocks. hong kong protesters forced the airport to close down. and in argentina, a result in primary reactions a set off a chaotic election. >> argentina is at the crossroads. there is a massive roadblock. his main rival, alberto, grabbed the momentum and came in 15 percentage points ahead in the poll. >> many analysts would say it is insurmountable. they like his policies. they are market oriented. fernandez, it is not clear what he would do with the imf. today could be carnage in the argentine markets. >> the peso has plunged to a record low against the u.s.

company and is complex and controversial business relationships. plus, content kings. cbs and viacom finally inked a merger deal. we will talk to viacom's ceo about synergies and the road ahead. what slowing economy? chinese online retailer alibaba defies the slowdown amidst a trade war with sales surpassing expectations. first to our top story, it was a big week for tech ipo's with fleet work and cloudflare filing to go public. the web security company cloudflare has been in the news lately, given its relationship with controversial message board, 8chan. three alleged gunman posted manifestoes on 8chan before three separate mass shootings in the united states. cloudflare stop providing services after the latest shooting in el paso, left two dozen dead, largely taking the platform off-line. so, is now the time to go public for cloudflare? i discussed it with liliana baker and will curtain. >> like many other tech ipo's, especially in software, it is not profitable. it has a pretty good growth rate though. it's really trying to look at its competitor, fastly. fastly went public earlie

viacom. 2, 5, 8 streaming services. cbs behind in streaming? out, thellion shares stock has 45. we are paying $40 billion for the entire enterprise. that enterprise, without a major success in streaming, but putting money into content. >> should they bring back gunsmoke? remember in childhood, they were apoplectic over all the old people. up a great point. "dark phoenix" lost a lot of money. you want to buy cbs because it is going to work. jerry is going to be in command. >> what happens next? they do have streaming services. hbo, cbs all access. >> they are not going to buy bloomberg. it is not going to work. that, if i am amazon, i am looking at how i get into this in a bigger way. witham sony, what do i do my music studio?may be the path is open . some further dynamic unfold. hopefully it happens a year from now. gamco chairman and chief executive mario gabelli. another sign that the u.s. housing market is cooling down. gains decelerated for the 15th month in a row and they were weaker than expected. that is according to the shiller index. property values rose 2.1% from a year earli

viacom finally reunite. wework unveils its plan to go public. chinese tech leads another parade of earnings and ad revenue. >> the focus is on the decline in online ad revenues. kailey: the week's important perspective. >> you look around the world, not a lot of great news lately. >> baseline does not suggest a . a recession, but these factors, keep an eye on them. kailey: it is ahead on "bloomberg best." hello and welcome. i am kailey leinz. this is "bloomberg best," your weekly review of the most interviews, business news, and analysis from bloomberg television around the world. let's look at the top headlines. we begin with investors jolted by political shocks. hong kong protesters forced the city's airport to shut down, canceling hundreds of flights. and in argentina, a surprising result in primary reactions a set off a chaotic election. francine: argentina is at the crossroads. while the president is looking to us second term, his path to the presidency just hit a massive roadblock. at the moment, his main rival , the opposition candidate to grab the momentum and came in 15 pe

straight to the bloomberg business flash in new york city. >> cbs agreed to merge with the viacom in a $12 billion transaction. it combines the most-watched broadcast network the parent of paramount pictures and mtv and nickelodeon. the new entity will be called viacom-cbs. steinhoff sees its future as a hands-off holding company. they say the shift will allow the best parts of the business to grow, isolating them from legal values and bring down debt. we spoke to the chief executive. >> previously, there was a lot of impetus on a vertical d asgration and we realize part of the debt restructuring that that model was not sustainable. the management should solely be on underlying businesses, and from that perspective, we must act sap or shareholder. >> -- purely as a shareholder. ftc is looking into allegations amazon is punishing merchants that offer lower prices elsewhere. the ftc is conducting a broad review of the tech sector but stopped short of confirming a formal probe on amazon. that is the bloomberg business flash, francine. francine: thank you. in hong kong, the airport is resuming

is complex and controversial is this relationships. plus, content kings. cbs and viacom finally inked a merger deal. we speak to buy comes a ceo about synergies and the road ahead. chinese online retailer alibaba defies the slowdown of missed a trade war with sales surpassing expectations. it was a big week for tech ideas with fleet work and cloudflare filing to go public. cloudflare has been in the news given its relationship with hm -- 8chan. three alleged gunman posted manifestoes on 8chan before three mass shootings. cloudflare stop providing services after el paso, texas, largely take the platform offline -- taking the platform off-line. so is now the time to go public? like many other tech ideas, especially in software, it is not profitable. it has a pretty good growth rate , it is really trying to look at competitors. fastly went public earlier this year and is doing ok. there have been some sources who were asking me why cloudflare took this long to get this point. they had been preparing since the fall of last year for a public offering. emily: cloudflare is a name we o

cbs and viacom worked through the night to try and determine a price for their long-awaited merger. determine chairman would be sherry redstone, whose family investment vehicle controls both companies. viacom's ceo would lead the new company. shares of germany's commerzbank fell to a record today. that cap they roller coaster ride that saw the stock more than double after -- that capped a roller coaster ride that saw the stock more than double after unannounced turnaround plan, although stocks have fallen over the last year and a half. we are seeing some earnings reportsd analyst waiting on retail data this week, specifically from china. guy: european stocks initially climbing this morning, but fading as the day has progressed. we are trading very close to session lows at the moment. however, i will put a caveat on that, and that is that volume is quite low today. this time last week, not the case, but now it definitely feels like august. we are seeing very light volume on this side of the atlantic. we will be back with more detail on what is happening with these markets. we are he

, that media merger. viacom and cbs are reuniting after 30 years in a long-awaited $11.7 billion deal. what is interesting today is the market reaction to that. we are seeing both stocks coming under pressure. part of that is down to what is happening with the markets today. it would be tough to be positive today, but nevertheless, after finally getting this deal done, we are seeing these stocks negative. let's go to my colleague vonnie quinn, who is at viacom's headquarters in new york with the man who led this deal to combine these two companies. funny -- vonnie. vonnie: indeed it has been a torturous route, but we are here now in times square with the ceo of viacom, assume to be viacom cbs -- soon to be viacom cbs, bob bakish. i'm curious as to the couple of days that brought you to this point. you ended up making a deal on the shares. did you come down to meet cbs? bob: we are thrilled that we announced the combination of viacom and cbs. assets itook at the unites, the powerhouse cbs broadcaster, syndicator and studio, with paramount pictures, one of the most storied studios in ho

steak. disney, lyft, c.v.s. and viacom. joining us is an equity strategist and bob browne from chicago as well. so where are we? if you're a good company, are you getting rewarded? where are we sitting? >> you are. one word that sums up this earnings season and that is somewhat unexpiring. it's been a rally really good earning season for companies that come in with about a 2% overall gain in e.p.s. over year ago. four weeks ago, we were thinking earnings were going to fall in this quarter. so that's better than expected. the problem is that even when companies are beating expectations, they're not guide wag great deal of confidence, right if they're not increasing estimates going into the future. analysts are still losing their faith in the prospects and third quarter earnings are now expected to fall by about 1%. alix: it showed in the next three quarters and you can really see sort of the downward projection, particularly over the third quarter but the fourth quarter starting to roll over. the first quarter is rolling over too. >> yeah, and frankly, it's not that things are n

corporate story we have been watching. cbs and viacom have reportedly agreed to an exchange ratio of 0.59625%. those decimal points are all important. it is an all stock merger. let's talk a little bit about this deal. the question i'm asking is, why is this so hard? they've been negotiating around the clock, and they've basically come up with an exchange ratio that kind of reflects where stock market values are now. reporter: it was very tough to get down to this, so don't underestimate how many hours of bankers and lawyers, heads and directors have gone into this decision. they've been negotiating around the clock since the weekend, but really they've been negotiating for about two years. these companies were separated into thousand six. sherry redstone, who's now in control of national amusements, which controls both of these companies, realized both companies needed scale to be able to compete with the netflixes of the world. they needed to get together so they could do m&a to bulk up a little more. that idea seems simple, but coming to terms on how you execute that has been a re

media deal being hammered out between the likes of cbs and viacom. viacom shareholders don't seem to be like the terms we are hearing about. reporter: some of the reporting out there, specifically dow jones, talking about a slight premium for cbs shareholders, and as far as the deal being finally done, if it gets done, this has been talked about so much over the years, it is kind of the challenge of putting humpty dumpty back together again because these companies were under the same corporate roof until the early to thousands when they were split 's when theyrly 2000 were split up. it shows you the difficulty they have been making it all fit, setting up the management, talking about a stock deal with the exchange ratios, all of these sort of details. let's just say it is not going easily. guy: i'm really curious about why not. since 2006 come of these companies are split apart. why is it so hard to put them back together again? what is it about these two businesses that don't fit neatly back together? what has changed? avid: it may be more of matter of personalities then the busines

the stomach for it. david: coming up, the merger everyone has been waiting for. viacom and cbs reunite after 13 years. more on what i'm watching, next. taylor: if you are jumping into your car, tune into bloomberg radio across the u.s. on sirius xm channel 119 and on the bloomberg business app. this is bloomberg. ♪ david: this is what i'm watching, cbs and viacom finally doing this deal after all. people might not remember, cbs and viacom started off together, and then they were separate companies. then sherry redstone said let's put them back together again. now sherry redstone has gotten her wish. taylor: we were speaking with our deals reporters, highlighting that they could save via synergy $500 million or so, but like you and i were talking about, saving isn't what you need to be doing. you need to be willing to spend billions of dollars to keep up with all the big streaming guys like netflix and disney. i don't know if they have the willingness to spend that type of money. david: and that is the key question. if you look at the basic deal points, the number one major as

versus the u.s. dollar. the s&p 500 down. plenty of stocks dragging today, including viacom and cbs. they are proceeding with that deal, but they are down 7% apiece. retail being dragged down lower by macy, which vastly disappointed investors. many other brands lower as well. guy: it is a tough market if you are long. it is not tough if you are long bonds, though. u.s.ections of both the and the u.k. yield curves invert. trade euphoria getting steamrolled by another round of disappointing global economic data, mainly out of germany and the united states. grant peterkin of man u life investment management -- of ,anulife investment management senior portfolio manager, joins us. seen the u.s. curve invert before, and generally there is a portent for some recession sometime after that. are seeing the central banks have economies' back. we are keeping longer dated bond yields relatively bid because of the collateral out there in the world. if the risks around the geopolitical tensions, whether in hong kong, argentina, or the potentiallyhey are bigger problems for us going forward. guy: w

ahead. david: thank you both very much for being with us. arel ahead, cbs and viacom reportedly on the brink of announcing their merger. they are our stocks of the hour, they are next, and this is bloomberg. ♪ david: you're watching "balance of power." i'm david westin. time for the stock of the hour. viacom is one of the worst performers in the s&p 500, falling 4% on reports the company is close to a deal with the merger with cbs. i am baffled because everyone thought this was the salvation for viacom. wire shareholders unhappy? kailey: what is being discussed is not final. 0.595 tonge ratio is 0.6 which is closer to what they were talking about and only value via, the market value of the stock, about $12 billion. dow jones saying the cbs shareholders will get a premium. viacom has drastically underperformed cbs since these companies split in 2006. that story is not changing. david: that is the point. they originally were together. sumner redstone decided to split them. at the time people thought five, would outperform cbs. to what extent is the exchange rate a question of viaco

about phillip morris, and cbs-viacom. i want to ask mr. good belly -- mr. gabelli the idea of what you do to filter the political investment of this august, this 2019. how do you deal with a news flow and investment? mario: you want to connect a lot of dots. the more important one for me is the tax rates that corporate's have sustainable. secondly, what is global growth on a basis that i can understand, why the negative currency? impacting what is the impact of the dollar? that is important because the earnings of public companies, -- 40% are non-us, being thrashed by the impact of currency. companies we own like vivendi selling into the united states get the benefit of their weak currency. tom: so are you on the cusp of buying the emerging markets, of the others that are out there? mario: on the others height of the coin, a company -- the other side of the coin, a company in china is selling at a large market cap because they have a big share of the premium market in china. we have a lot of dots on a global basis. what we try to buy is good businesses run by people that come to wo

trump will delay china.nal tariffs on markets rally on the news of apple surging 4%. the cbs-viacom romance leads to a waiting. the megamerger -- shery: breaking news out of south korea. we have the unemployment rate for the month of july coming in at 4%. that was as analysts expected. the third month in a row that stayed at 4%. south korea added 299,000 jobs in july, higher than the 281,000 they added in june. the south korean economy and job market being highly supported by government job creation. we are expecting the extra budget set to pass parliament at the start of august to also give more support for the job market. exportseantime, continue to plunge in south korea, now headed to the ninth month of export declines in august.we have seen the weakness in w theon throughout these -- the south korean won. in hongrn to sophie kong for a check on where markets are headed this morning. sophie: we have plenty more data to come through from asia including a check on china's monthly activities for july which could dampen some of the anticipated relief rally as industrial output and re

investing at the largest independent holder of voting stock and viacom, who recently said he was exploring legal options after his shares were bought for less than he perceived its market value in the company's merger with cbs. vonnie quinn asked him if he is still considering litigation. ♪ >> as one of her teammates would say, all our options are still on the table. we want to see how far we go into it. number, there's only like 5 million, 10 million shares, it was selling at a premium, and if they pay you an extra dollars -- it's not a lot of money. >> are you actually going to take them to court? >> we will do whatever is necessary to help our clients who own the stock. of the 650 million shares that will be outstanding -- by the way, this is a buy. have in our homes eight streaming services -- is he bullish on streaming and is cbs behind? shares,00 million that's 25 billion, we are paying 40 billion for the entire enterprise without a major success in streaming, putting money into content will generate -- >> should they bring back "gunsmoke?" [laughter] >> that brings up an

next, "vanity fair's" bill cohan will tell us why he thinks cbs and viacom may not be done with deals once their widely expected merger is announced. >>> also ahead i asked the ceo of adidas about the fallout from the trade war with china. >> there's going to be no winners if this were to continue, neither in china or the u.s. or for that sake in europe the quicker that everybody understands this is going to pull everybody down, the better it is. >> coming up, find out how much the trade war could impact his company's bottom line. do you have concerns about mild memory loss related to aging? prevagen is the number one pharmacist-recommended memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. >>> welcome back we've got some news on j.c. penney seema mody has the story for us. >> j.c. penney has received notification from the new york stock exchange that it is not in compliant with the listing standards as its stock price is currently at 69 cents a share, which is below the $1. keep in mind it is required that listed c

. something you always ask me about. >> down 2%, that's what we need. >> our friends at cbs and viacom an update on a deal we have been waiting for for years, for months, for weeks that still hasn't come, but worth updating people it appears that we are getting very close for the first time at least a long, long negotiation where cbs's board in particular has taken so much time in terms of going through every single particular of a potential deal, they are talking exchange ratio with viacom. i don't have the details specific on where they are in fact, they haven't nailed down an exchange ratio i think it was .63 last title. they are so close that people tell me they would be surprised if they didn't reach a deal within the next few days. >> you said august -- >> no, that was somebody else. i will be on vacation next week, so inevitably it will happen while i am away. we have been talking for months the fact that backis, viacom's ceo, would run the combined country. the ceo of cbs would have a significant role as well the exchange ratio has been the key. given the history between these com

"closing bell." a long awaited, long rumored deal is finally official cbs and viacom announcing their merger championed by vice chair and controlling shareholder sherry redstone. bob backish will become chief of the company. sumner redstone split it apart more than a decade ago it's all about size and scale, negotiating with cable distributors and tech companies but now the key question, do they need even more size and scale, and who could they buy or be acquired by for that let's bring in alex sherman who's been reporting all the details around this deal and it is looking at whether we could see another wave of k consolidation. >> we've been able to stew over this merger for about an hour now so it's time to think about what the next one is the fact of the matter is if you put both of these companies together, cbs and viacom, you still end up with a company that is dwarfed in size by the biggest players in the content industry these days. our parent company, comcast or at&t that bought time warner or disney, these companies are much bigger throw in google, amazon, netflix, appl

points at the open. >>> let's talk cbs and viacom both beating expectations in their earnings yesterday but still no word on the expected merger julia boorstin joins us now with more >> andrew, that's right. neither cbs or viacom would comment. instead the two companies focused on their strength in the changing media landscape joe ianello saying cbs all access and their showtime app said the two apps are on track to reach 25 million subscribers by 2022. cbs all access is adding children's programming with the library over 1,000 episodes plus new original series and they are accelerating their launch of cbs and local news streaming services the viacom ceo talking about domestic ad revenue returning to growth and their studio pair mounting is on track to deliver full year profitability. he admitted the pricing of disney plus is competitive but viacom aims to play in all parts of the streaming wars as well as offering ad-supported pluto the two sides are aligned on leadership of the new back backish would be the ceo with ianello overseeing the cbs assets but the companies are still working

a big show every day. you have backish today >> we have bob of the combined viacom cbs -- >> first on cnbc you got him. you have to leave to go to where he is. >> i have to leave i know you're excited about that wh >> what time is it >> we'll do that interview at the 8:00 hour. >> it's probably one block away. >> you can get this camera over there? you can see the viacom sign over there. we'll walk across the street >> these lights take forever i would say 6:30 is a good time to go. i agree. don't you agree? this is a big show today >> big show, not only backish but wilbur ross on the day that is the deadline for the waivers for companies to do business with huawei. that's the big thing happening today. >> it's a big show one other thing, you were talking about these electronics. i want to update people. my air pods -- >> what happened >> someone told me put the right one in the left ear, the left one in the right ear it worked for this person. they work for me it's a little uncomfortable. >> what was the issue? >> they don't fit normally right and left they're too -- i think they

talks with viacom. >>> and shares of amarin pharmaceuticals are down today, down 22% company says the fda plans to hold an advisory panel meeting to discuss whether the label for its heart disease drug should be expanded that means the fda will delay its final decision three months. amarin off 22.8% >>> straight ahead, recession warning signs and the global rate race to the bottom. yet another central bank joining the club in the global easing cycle. who did it, what it might mean for the markets and your money is next. >>> and later on, aside from chick-fil-a, perhaps no fast food chain has more of a cult following than taco bell and now fans of taco bell have a new reason and a new location to celebrate over the weekend it's the taco-tel and we'll tell chgerernabout it when "worldwide exan" tus. otion. you should be mad at forced camaraderie. and you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade, who's tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. don't get mad. get

about uber we thought there would be a massive merger between cbs and viac viacom >> we've been waiting. if it's not today, it's this week if it's not this week, not happening. >> not happening ever? >> it's going to happen. going to happen. sherri red stone wants this deal to happen. the last thing they're trying to dot on the "is," is the exchange ratio. that's the fundamental part of this how much cbs shares are viacom worth? the last time they discussed this, 0.61 cbs shares for every viacom share that's where viacom wants it higher cbs is saying, your shares are trading with that baked in let's go back. >> and amass any executive payouts. that's all settled? >> a chance iaonelo stays on and he gets to stay and keep the money. that's what my sources are been telling me >> do you think that cbs/viacom merged is a stronger company >> yeah. if you look at the consolidation. everybody is terrified of disney right now, after acquiring fox and launching the streaming service. if you want to compete, you have to keep doing that >> i think just to get to par. i don't know if it make

breaking news on cbs and viacom, officially announcing a merger deal. let's go to alex sherman who has been monitoring this >> so yeah, this has been three years in the waiting, but it's finally official after several starts and stops cbs and viuconn officially agreeing to merge. it puts to rest a saga that has gone back and forth, of course, les moonves leaving as ceo of cbs last year, and then cbs refreshing its board, really talking to viacom's board all year long. exploring various different options, trying to figure out is this the best path forward it puts these two companies that were one for many years up until 2006 back together under the de facto control of sherry headstone, who controls national amusements, the holding company. sher shari redstone is the ceo of viacom and redstone. it shows so many mergers in the past two, three, four years now, and cbs and viacom are two companies, each less than $20 billion market cap, that need to get bigger to compete with the netflix and amazons and the other legacy companies that have already gotten bigger. this is a step forward, and it pr

it. >>> in corporate news, reunited and it feels so good cbs and viacom striking a deal to get back together after the media giant split more than a decade ago rahel solomon has the details on the entertainment empire >> cbs and viacom may be betting that a larger company can better compete in an industry dominated by bigger giants the new company will be called viacom cbs with cbs shareholders owning about 61% and have a market cap of $31 billion, still small compared to netflix at 130 billion. disney has nearly 250 billion, and comcast at almost 2 00 billion it will combine the cbs network with mtv, nickelodeon, comedy central and paramount movie studio they will own about 15,000 tv episodes and 3,600 films cbs and viacom split up in 2006. the holding compaprevious efforr failed because of price and clashes and who would run the company. bob backish will be president and ceo. joe ianello will be the chairman and ceo of cbs bob backish will be on "squawk box" this morning at 8:40 eastern back to you. >> thank you very much for that update. >>> in whale watching, trian partners stag

bring you the latest on the cbs viacom saga. stay tuned you're catch watching "squawk box" on cnbc johnson & johnson is a baby company. but we're also a company that controls hiv, fights cancer, repairs shattered bones, relieves depression, restores heart rhythms, helps you back from strokes, and keeps you healthy your whole life. from the day you're born we never stop taking care of you. you mighyour joints...ng for your heart... from the day you're born or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. >>> welcome back to "squawk box. shares of uber, they close at a record low in yesterday's session and they show no signs of recovery overnight. this coming after some disappointing second quarter results. and now some investor doubts about the long-term profitability of the stock you're looking at it now at about 36.91. i don't know what to think. i mean, is it

shareholder and a lot of benefit of putting them together was benefits of scale. cbs and viacom have become smaller than these new media companies but combined at $50 billion they've now got at least more scale to be able to compete with people like disney and comcast. you could see further consolidation. >> when we consider the weakness of the europe economy, brexit coming up and the associated currency weakness why haven't there been more cross border deals? >> you rarely see currency movements drive m and a and for the most part companies that are defdominated in sterling, so whn they go down do does the revenue and earnings it's not always the case but it doesn't drive activity as much as you think people tend to take a much longer term of view and given the deal you can't price a deal and close it the same day you're still throughout the pendency. >> have you seen cold water thrown on deal making between china and the u.s. >> the deals between the u.s. and china are down dramatically. i think deals in the technology sector it's going to be hard for them to get done between the u.s. and

/viacom we did the kensho on it. walter, viacom or cbs, what's the play based on the merger >> if the merger happens, i think viacom is strengthened more by the merger than cbs is if your question is to pick one or the other, viacom but if the merger doesn't go through, i think cbs is stronger the stocks are off today because it was supposed to happen by a self-imposed deadline of yesterday. they couldn't get it done in time, but every report is they're still working on it and a deal is going to come through. >> joe, mcdonald's, all-time high today what do you do >> a couple weeks ago, stephanie link and i were talking. we both own mcdonald's we felt the valuation was getting high i'm glad i didn't sell any once again, mining for information on what this company is doing they're refranchising. they're now up to noichb% in terms of refranchising the digital transformation, the kiosks, the self-serve, it's moving the needle, lifting margins. think about the stock over the last four years. this stock is a double since august of 2015 so a little rich on a valuation standpoint, but i t

auto insurance quote today. >>> breaking news on cbs and viacom julia has the details. >>> the "wall street journal" reporting that cbs and viacom reached a working agreement on the combined company's leadership team with the expectations that bob bakish will be the ceo and joe eianell. this report also saying that cbs finance chief would be the cfo of the campaignombined company. both shares are down less than a percent on the news. this all comes ahead of both company's reported earnings this coming thursday. my sources tell me there's expectations they'll announce a deal before then but working out the details of the financial agreement between those two companies. so more details on the management team as we await news of an official deal. back over to you. >> julia, thank you. >>> also got some other breaking news european governments do have their pick for the next head of the imf. they are going with bulgaria do deal the executive board of the imf has to vote to approve her, but what needed to happen first is the europeans need to coalesce around one candidate there's kind of

of the world a busy morning futures are red. meantime, cbs and viacom moving lower a day after announcing they agreed to merge bob bakish will be the ceo of the combined company to be called viacom cbs. this is what he told our andrew ross sorkin about the deal and about content scale earlier this morning. >> you look at content, we clearly have scale and content between the studios that we operate, paramount television, cbs television studios, nickelodeon, viacom international studios, a library of 140,000 television episodes, 3600 films, we have 750 series ordered to or in production. there is true content scale here >> obviously on a moment like this, got to bring in david on the phone, david faber joins us to talk about the deal and the mixed reception to the notion that cbs might have a big dtc offer. >> i think that's a key point, guys by the way, the show is really good i just want to say that, watching from my hotel room, i realize why it is so popular you don't even need me that said, sorry wasn't there to deal with what we have been waiting for, for years, the third t

media reunion for cbs and viacom. the two companies announcing tuesday they're merging to become viacom cbs. the long-awaited deal between the two puts some of the biggest brands including showtime, mtv, nickelodeon, b.e.t., and comedy central under one corporate banner. cbs and viacom used to be one but split in 2016, the deal comes during a volatile period in the media industry. multiple other companies have done similar deals in an attempt to combat challenges from digital rivals. the merger creates a company with more than $28 billion in revenue. >>> snapchat not giving up on its smart sunglasses. announcing spectacles three, the latest version of its video recording sunglasses with new 3d effects. it also comes with an eye-popping price tag of $380. more than double the cost of its previous version. here's the thing, this isn't the first time snapchat has tried these smart glasses. after the hype of its first spectacles kind of fizzled out, the company had to take a nearly $40 million write-down for excess inventory. so this time spectacles three are a limited edition produc

and viacom have reached a working agreement on the combined companies' leadership team. viacom's ceo bob bakish is expected to lead the combined company -- okay, charlie wants to do a victory lap. go ahead. i will leave myself out of it. >> the preliminary announcement is today on the deal you have -- by the way, we reported this yesterday that it was coming down the pike. we had thought the official announcement would be next week when they both announce earnings. i think you will get that next week. but we got right now the preliminary announcement that they have a deal to merge the companies, that bob bakish, the ceo of viacom, as first reported by fox business, that he was in the pole position. he is going to be the ceo. joe eianniello will be second i command. the question is does joe stay beyond the transitionary point. it is unclear from what we know right now. i don't think he will. but we'll see what happens. but this is pretty big news. the long-held goal to shari redstone who runs the controlling national amusements holding company, owns the controlling shares of both comp

until cbs and viacom self-imposed deadline for a merger deal. plus the newest twist, and the t-mobile and sprint saga. charlie is back with a two-for-one exclusive. jasper you know is coming up. ♪ ou need. wow. thanks, zoltar. how can i ever repay you? maybe you could free zoltar? thanks, lady. taxi! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ while managing your type 2 diabetes- why think about your heart? lower a1c helps, but type 2 diabetes still increases my risk of a fatal cardiovascular event. and that's why there's jardiance- the first type 2 diabetes pill that offers a lifesaving cardiovascular benefit for adults who also have known heart disease. it can significantly reduce my risk of dying from a cardiovascular event. and it lowers my a1c, with diet and exercise. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. a rare, but life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur

merger deal with viacom? less than an hour to the closing bell. let's start "the claman countdown." liz: we are just getting this breaking news out of washington, d.c. the u.s. state department is having its daily briefing and right now, as you see, it has just called china a thuggish regime for releasing personal details on a u.s. diplomat who apparently met with leaders of hong kong's pro-democracy movement. hong kong of course has been roiled by protesters furious with china for what they say are china's authoritarian tentacles reaching from the mainland. waiting on more details from the story, but this could cause more agitation ahead of continuing trade talks between the u.s. and china. right now we are still holding on to gains. we are watching it, 298 points for the dow. the bulls appear at the moment to be oblivious to this constant brinkmanship between the two nations. check it out. we have the s&p better by 1.66%. as you see, the dow up 1%. but the true leadership is coming from the small and midcaps and technology. both the russell and the nasdaq are both up -- well, look at

. in the midst of this market run-up, cbs and viacom have kind of sealed their merger deal. charlie gasparino saw this coming before anyone else. hey, charlie. >> what we know is this, that they have a preliminary deal. cbs and viacom are finally merging after years of negotiations on and off again. shari redstone from the controlling redstone family's national amusements, that's the controlling company of both of these media outfits, this is a big day for her because it's likely to be announced today. here's what we know. they are scrambling, meaning the boards of both companies are scrambling to complete the deal either before the closing bell or after the closing bell. that doesn't mean they are going to get it done but i'm hearing there's a very high likelihood they could get it done today. the deal would be announced and lu have bob bakish, the ceo of viacom as ceo of the combined companies and for at least now, the company is either going to be called cbs viacom or viacom cbs until they figure out, i guess with branding experts, what's a better name to call the combined entity

the close. >>> up next, cbs and viacom merger talks going in slow mo. charlie gasparino is here with new exclusive details on the sticking points in this amazing race. charlie breaks it down next on "the claman countdown." fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? (past them because she didn't sknow they were talking to her.g and she would just walk right (deborah) i just could not hear. i was hesitant to get the hearing aids because of my short hair, but nobody even sees them. (avo) our nearly invisible hearing aids are just one reason we've been the brand leader for over 70 years. (deborah) when i finally could hear for the first time, i started crying. i could hear everything. (avo) call 1-800-miracle to start your 30 day risk-free trial and schedule yo

in bath. or visit kohlerwalkinbath.com for more info. dagen: viacom agreeing to terms on a deal, charlie gasparino on the telephone with daelz hey charlie. on the phone: long nightmare i keep saying this on deals forever and forever, this thing, from what i understand from sources close to both companies both viacom, cvs is done, the parties have reached a merger agreement agreed two things that were holding up exchange ratio that is the price of how much you get you in own cbs versus how much you get if you own viacom shares both companies separately traded entities controlled by national amusements run by redstone family sumner redstone out of pocket ailing mogul sheri runs the show you put them together, and both sides have to get certain amount of stock, cbs bigger company so cbs gets more more value than viacom that is what they were working out last couple days delayed decision yesterday a lot of people thought he was coming down till today, they worked that out other thing wording out the keeping joe ianela. >> the announcement i hear announcement coming after the bell to

expect to see it overnight. let me ask you a little bit on cbs and viacom, where is this thing going? >> i hear it is not going to happen today. that is kind of obvious. it could happen tomorrow i'm hearing. neil: well -- >> listen, it will be a big deal, it is interesting, cbs is always thought of, one of the biggest, greatest names in broadcasting, and it is, part of a company now that is not that big. if you even merge it with viacom, which owns mtv, nickelodeon, other properties with cbs, you have something like a 30 billion-dollar company which is small between tech. the question why is it taking this long? they would like joe ianniello to stay on with his contract as stablizing force with the company, sell the merger to analysts, see what happens. going forward it will be interesting. there is talk of growing the property, buying nickelodeon, by i hear they're looking to sell, shari redstone, has everything in one, is looking for a nest egg for her grandkids, children, grandkids, you name it. you know, they're looking to sell out. so, but that, i'll tell you, buying this compan

it is beginning to wrap up because we now have breaking news, sending shares of cbs and viacom, both on your screen much higher. the two media companies reportedly reached an agreement on the merger deal that had been in and out of the works a long time. there were political problems there. there were personality clashes there. there were a whole lot of issues that kept them apart. in a world of increasing media mergers, to compete in the new world this probably had to get done. the question at one point were insurmountable obstacles apparently have been ironed out. as you can see cbs shares up 50 cents. more than a percentage point. so are viacom shares. all eyes where do we go from here? where do the merged companies go from here? where do they compete in a world where content is king and delivering content is king? a year ago, espn was a winner. now maybe they're not the winners. take it to charlie gasparino. he has been on top of this more than anyone else. charlie, give us some of the details, please. >> we were ahead of the story as we've been on the sprint t-mobile. it's a com

ready for new frontiers with the cbs, viacom merger bringing the franchise under new ownership. >> my friends, we've come home. tracee: viacom, cbs cheap bob back et told investors star trek has significant potential to leverage across all company platforms. cbs has the star trek series launching next year. some are looking to the star trek universe to rival the marvel and star wars universes which are controlled by disney. and there's sopranos news, michael gandolfini is playing michael soprano in the new movie. the 19-year-old actor tells esquire he never watched the hit series until he was cast in the prequel. he said watching the series was an intense process. the movie is set to be released next year and that's what's happening now. cheryl: that's got to be tough. that's why he didn't watch it. lauren: he was only 14 when his dad died. cheryl: we've got a lot more coming up this morning. if you like to kickback with some netflix, hello, you may want to hit the pause button. why a bit of binging might be really bad for you. and, snoopy had better fire up that typewriter. how one c