Viacom, Inc. Q4 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Viacom, Inc. (VIA) Q4 2008 Earnings Call February 12, 2009 8:30 AM ET

Executives

Jim Bombassei - Senior Vice President of Investor Relations
Sumner Redstone – Chairman
Philippe Dauman - President and CEO
Tom Dooley - Chief Administrative Officer and CFO
Jimmy Barge - Controller and Head of Tax and Treasury

Analysts

Michael Nathanson - Sanford Bernstein
Benjamin Swinburne - Morgan Stanley
Jessica Reif-Cohen – Bank of America Securities-Merrill Lynch
Spencer Wang - Credit Suisse
Jason Bazinet – Citi
Tuna Amobi - Standard & Poor’s
Imran Khan – JP Morgan

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Welcome to the Viacom Fourth Quarter 2008 Earnings Release Teleconference. I would like to turn the call over to the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, Mr. Jim Bombassei.

Jim Bombassei

Thank you for taking the time to join us for our fourth quarter and full year earnings call. Joining me for today’s discussion are Sumner Redstone, our Chairman; Philippe Dauman, our President and CEO; Tom Dooley, Chief Administrative Officer and CFO; and Jimmy Barge, Controller and Head of Tax and Treasury.

Please note that in addition to our press release we have slides containing supplemental information available on our website. Before we begin let me refer you to page number two in the web presentation and remind you that certain statements made on this call are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in more detail in our filings with the SEC. Reconciliations for non-GAAP financial information discussed on this call can be found in our earnings release or on our website.

Now I’ll turn the call over to Sumner.

Sumner Redstone

Viacom’s results, like nearly every company here and all around the world reflect the harsh economic climate that took hold in the second half of the year and