Viacom Inc

Viacom Inc. reported a 16% gain in fourth-quarter earnings Thursday and said its advertising business hadn't been hurt by the slowdown in the economy. Philippe P. Dauman, Viacom's chief executive, told analysts that the company also benefited from a shift of ad dollars to cable television from broadcast during the just-concluded writers strike. Viacom earned $559.5 million, or 86 cents a share, in the quarter, up from $480.8 million, or 69 cents, in the same period a year earlier.

Microsoft Corp. won the right to deliver advertising on Viacom Inc.'s network of websites for the next five years Wednesday, the latest in a series of deals demonstrating the software titan's willingness to spend heavily to establish itself as a major player in online ads. The alliance announced Wednesday gave Microsoft a big partner in trying to catch up to Google Inc., the top broker of Internet advertising. Microsoft will displace DoubleClick Inc. in showing ads to Web surfers visiting MTV.

Viacom Inc.'s MTV and award-winning television and film producer Jerry Bruckheimer will launch a video game studio, marrying Hollywood and technology in what has been historically an uneasy alliance. Bruckheimer is the producer of Walt Disney Co.'s wildly successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" film franchise and TV hits such as "CSI."

Strong earnings from the hit robot movie "Transformers" and the sale of a music-publishing business helped push Viacom Inc. to an 80% surge in third-quarter profit, the company reported Friday. At the same time, the media conglomerate acknowledged that the anticipated Writers Guild of America strike could put a crimp in some popular programming. Viacom, parent of cable TV's MTV Networks and the Paramount Pictures movie studio, reported quarterly net income of $641.

Media giant Viacom Inc. is suing YouTube Inc., but it's also taking lessons from the online video service. In the ongoing quest to make Internet popularity pay, Viacom's Comedy Central channel today will unveil a website for "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" that's designed to satisfy the most avid fans of the mock-news show with oceans of free video clips.

With his trim dark suits, gold cuff links and erect bearing, Philippe P. Dauman projects a sense of dignity and reserve that some in Hollywood regard as just this side of pompous. One industry insider called him "the quintessential New York suit." Dauman, 53, who just finished his first year as chief executive of the entertainment conglomerate Viacom Inc., is such a Manhattanite that he doesn't drive; he never even applied for a license.

Since the public blow-up in July between Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari over corporate governance and succession issues at their family-controlled entertainment empire, the 84-year-old chairman of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. has been on a campaign to convince the world that the feud has blown over. In August, he orchestrated a family dinner in New York that was described by the New York Post as a rapprochement.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. head Jeffrey Katzenberg said Wednesday that Viacom Inc. shouldn't be nonchalant about the possibility of losing Steven Spielberg from its Paramount Pictures studio. The warning came a day after Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said his company was planning for Spielberg's possible departure next year amid reports that the Academy Award-winning director was unhappy.

Media conglomerate Viacom Inc., which owns BET and MTV, announced a donation Tuesday valued at $1.5 million to help build a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall in Washington. Viacom pledged $1 million in cash plus promotions for the memorial that will include public service announcements across the company's networks and its billboards in New York's Times Square, Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said.

Viacom Inc. posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit Thursday, boosted by DVD sales and the box-office hit "Shrek the Third," sending shares up 4%. Executives at the New York-based owner of MTV Networks, Paramount movie studios and the Nickelodeon cable channels also expected U.S. cable network advertising to improve in the third quarter, from a 4% gain in the second quarter. Viacom's second-quarter profit fell less than 1% to $434 million from $437.3 million a year earlier.