STEVEN SPIELBERG - VIACOM CHIEF SAYS SPIELBERG WILL PROBABLY STAY AT PARAMOUNT

VIACOM CHIEF SAYS SPIELBERG WILL PROBABLY STAY AT PARAMOUNT

Despite talk that Steven Spielberg may pull up DreamWorks' stakes at Paramount and move them to Universal, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said Thursday that he believes Spielberg himself will continue to make films for Paramount. "I've been spending a lot of time with Steven Spielberg," Dauman said during a conference call with investors on Thursday. He indicated that among their topics of conversation was a "pretty exciting idea" for a new series of movies. He did not elaborate. "We agreed to proceed calmly and mutually to see what structure the relationship takes,'' Dauman said. "We'll just see how our relationship progresses," he added. Dauman's comments came as he discussed Viacom's fourth-quarter earnings results, which showed profits rising 16 percent to $559.5 million from $480.8 million during the same period a year ago. Dauman in particular credited Paramount's box-office and DVD hit Transformers and ad sales at MTV as principal contributors to the favorable result, which beat analysts' predictions.

29/02/2008