CBS Announces Sale Of All CBS Outdoor Shares

CBS (NYSE: CBS) Wednesday morning officially announced the sale of its 81 percent ownership in CBS Outdoor Americas (NYSE: CBSO).

This is the final step in a spinoff of which was started when CBS Outdoor became its own publicly traded entity in April. Following the sale of CBS’ stake, CBS Outdoor will become a REIT.

CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves commented that, “for our part, CBS Corporation can focus on what we do best, which is invest, produce and distribute premium content across all platforms and all around the world."

CBS Outdoor commented that it will be able to reach “new heights” as an independent company.

CBS shareholders are permitted to trade their shares, at a seven percent discount, for CBS Outdoor shares (subject to a 2.1917 share upper limit). If the upper limit is not in effect, every $100 of CBS shares are worth $107.53.

The press release also states that the offer is contingent on CBS’ ability to sell 60 percent of the CBS Outdoor shares it holds.

Shares of CBS are up about 1.4 percent in Wednesday's pre-market, while CBS Outdoors is unchanged. The transaction had been anticipated as part of the transition to spin-off CBS Outdoors.