In what may signal a reversal of the consolidation trend of big media, another media giant - Viacom - indicated plans to break itself up into two companies: one that would be led by MTV Networks chief
Tom Freston; the other run by CBS chief Leslie Moonves. Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, who set up Viacom's unusual current dual management team a year ago when he indicated plans to retire in a few
years, said he was considering the move to unlock shareholder value, the same reasoning cited by Liberty Media Corp. earlier this week when it announced plans to spin off its Discovery Communications
holdings into a separate company. The Viacom scenario also would resolve which of the two powerful media executives, Freston or Moonves, would eventually get the top Viacom job. -- J.M.
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