Viacom to Take $1.5-Billion Charge

Viacom Inc. will take about $1.5 billion in charges in its second quarter for costs related to buying CBS Corp. and for new film accounting rules, according to a recent filing and analyst estimates. Viacom expects to record a pretax charge of about $700 million for CBS purchase expenses such as transaction fees, severance payments and other costs, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New York-based Viacom also said it estimates that it will make accounting adjustments of about $3 billion related to the price it paid for CBS. Part of that amount stems from unspecified job cuts, realigned operations and the closing of some duplicate offices, according to the filing. Viacom is scheduled to release second-quarter financial results Thursday. Analysts are expecting a loss of 6 cents a share. Viacom Class B shares fell $1.94 to close at $66.38 on the New York Stock Exchange.