Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.
NEW YORK -- Viacom Inc. announced today that it plans to shed its controlling stake in Blockbuster, the video rental chain, and take a $1.3 billion charge to write down the value of the business.
Blockbuster's business has been under pressure from cheap sales of DVDs through major retailers as well as emerging video technologies like video on demand and personal video recorders.
Viacom also owns CBS, MTV and the Paramount movie studio.
archive
