ViacomCBS plans sale of CBS headquarters in New York

By Helen Coster

(Reuters) - ViacomCBS <VIACA.O> is planning to sell the CBS headquarters in New York, known as Black Rock, as it seeks to cut costs from the combined company, Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish told reporters Monday.

CBS and Viacom - both owned by the Redstone family - began trading as a combined company on Dec. 5.

Executives had projected that the merged company would result in $500 million worth of cost savings.

Bakish, who led Viacom before taking the helm of ViacomCBS, also said the company would begin $2.5 billion in stock buybacks as part of an existing CBS buyback program that transitioned over as part of the merger.

Neither CBS nor Viacom has been buying back stock recently.

Black Rock, on the corner of W. 52nd Street and 6th Avenue, has served as CBS headquarters since the 1960s.

(Reporting by Helen Coster; Editing by Nick Macfie)