ViacomCBS To Sell Manhattan 'Black Rock'

ViacomCBS is planning to sell CBS’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters—known as “Black Rock”—to generate operating capital for the newly combined company, Chief Executive Bob Bakish said Monday.

Speaking at the UBS Global TMT Conference, Mr. Bakish said that ViacomCBS had hired CBRE Group Inc., a global real-estate company, to sell the building.

The Wall Street Journal reports some of the proceeds from the sale will be used to buy back ViacomCBS stock. The shares have been under pressure since both companies announced their long-thwarted merger on Aug. 13.

(Reuters photo)

A crown jewel of the former CBS Corp., the West 52nd Street headquarters in Midtown Manhattan contains about 900,000 square feet of space, according to a 2018 annual report from the company. CBS occupied about 275,000 square feet of that space and leased the rest to other tenants, according to the filing. The 38-story tower, made from reinforced concrete, is famous for the Canadian black granite exterior that gives it its name.

ViacomCBS hasn’t determined whether the company will lease space in the building from its future owner, but most of CBS’s corporate employees will be moving to the company’s Times Square headquarters—where it is a tenant—a company spokesman said.

Mr. Bakish also said Monday that he expects the company to strike a new deal for the rights to broadcast National Football League games well ahead of 2023. NFL rights are one of ViacomCBS’s most potent weapons in the battle for viewers and advertisers, and securing a favorable deal with the league will be crucial for the company.