Viacom Blames Soft ‘Ninja Turtles,’ Redstone Drama for Lower Earnings Forecast

“Highly public governance controversy” has hurt timing of a big SVOD deal, company says

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Paramount

Viacom is being proactive in tempering earnings expectations for its current fiscal quarter.

In a statement issued Friday, the media company said the “disappointing” box office performance of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” and the delay in completing a “significant” SVOD agreement are to blame for a more pessimistic Q3 outlook.

That latter issue can be attributed to what the company called “recent and highly public governance controversy” — in other words, the ugly and ongoing fight between CEO Philippe Dauman and Sumner and Shari Redstone, who head the National Amusements holding company that controls 80 percent of Viacom.

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