History of CBS
| 1886 | Westinghouse Electric Corporation is founded as Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company |
|---|---|
| 1912 | Famous Players Film Company is founded |
| 1913 | Lasky Feature Play Company is founded |
| 1914 | Paramount Pictures is founded |
| 1916 | Famous Players and Lasky merge as Famous Players–Lasky and acquire Paramount |
| 1927 | Famous Players–Lasky is renamed Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation; CBS is founded with investment from Columbia Records |
| 1929 | Paramount acquires 49% of CBS |
| 1930 | Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation is renamed Paramount Publix Corporation |
| 1932 | Paramount sells back its shares of CBS |
| 1934 | Gulf+Western is founded as the Michigan Bumper Corporation |
| 1935 | Paramount Publix Corporation is renamed Paramount Pictures |
| 1936 | National Amusements is founded as Northeast Theater Corporation |
| 1938 | CBS acquires Columbia Records |
| 1950 | Desilu is founded and CBS distributes its television programs |
| 1952 | CBS creates the CBS Television Film Sales division |
| 1958 | CBS Television Film Sales is renamed CBS Films |
| 1966 | Gulf+Western acquires Paramount |
| 1967 | Gulf+Western acquires Desilu and renames it Paramount Television (now CBS Studios) |
| 1968 | CBS Films is renamed CBS Enterprises |
| 1970 | CBS Enterprises is renamed Viacom |
| 1971 | Viacom is spun off from CBS |
| 1987 | National Amusements acquires Viacom |
| 1988 | CBS sells Columbia Records to Sony |
| 1989 | Gulf+Western is renamed Paramount Communications |
| 1994 | Viacom acquires Paramount Communications |
| 1995 | Paramount Television and United Television launch UPN; Westinghouse acquires CBS |
| 1997 | Westinghouse is renamed CBS Corporation |
| 2000 | Viacom acquires UPN and CBS Corporation |
| 2005 | Viacom splits into the second CBS Corporation and Viacom |
| 2006 | Skydance Media is founded as Skydance Productions; CBS Corporation shuts down UPN and replaces it with The CW |
| 2009 | Paramount and Skydance enter an agreement to co-produce and co-finance films |
| 2017 | CBS Corporation sells CBS Radio to Entercom (now Audacy) |
| 2019 | CBS Corporation and Viacom re-merge as ViacomCBS |
| 2022 | ViacomCBS is renamed Paramount Global |
| 2025 | Skydance acquires National Amusements and merges with Paramount Global as Paramount Skydance |
| 2026 | Paramount Skydance announced its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion |
CBS was founded as a radio network in 1927 and then expanded to television in the 1940s. Although it primarily remained an independent, publicly traded company (NYSE: CBS) throughout most of the 20th century, Paramount Pictures temporarily held a 49% ownership stake from 1929 to 1932. However, in 1995 the Westinghouse Electric Corporation acquired the company, becoming CBS Corporation (after selling certain assets). In 2000, CBS sold again to the original incarnation of Viacom (formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, which acquired Paramount Pictures in 1994). In 2005, Viacom split itself into two separate companies and re-established CBS Corporation. However, National Amusements controlled both CBS and the second incarnation of Viacom until 2019, when both companies agreed to re-merge to become ViacomCBS. In 2022, ViacomCBS changed its name to Paramount Global after Paramount Pictures. In 2025, Paramount Global, National Amusements and Skydance Media merged to form Paramount Skydance Corporation.