National Amusements

National Amusements, Inc. is an American privately owned theater company and mass media holding company based in Dedham, Massachusetts and incorporated in Maryland. It is the parent of Viacom and CBS Corporation, both of which were formed in 2006 after they were split from the original Viacom.

As of December 2016, National Amusements, directly and through subsidiaries, holds approximately 79.8% of the Class A (voting) common stock of Viacom Inc., constituting 10% of the overall equity of the Company, and holds approximately 79.5% of the Class A (voting) common stock and 2.4% of the Class B (non‐voting) common stock of CBS Corporation, constituting 9.1% of the overall equity of the Company.

The company operates more than 1,500 movie screens across the Northeastern United States, the United Kingdom, Latin America, and Russia under its Showcase Cinemas, Multiplex Cinemas, Cinema de Lux, and KinoStar brands.

Financial troubles
At the end of 2008, the financial troubles of the owners, billionaires Sumner Redstone and Shari Redstone, started when Sumner Redstone had to dump $400 million of nonvoting shares.

It was released that National Amusements planned to sell $390 million of notes in another attempt to refinance a large part of the company's bank owed debt.

Sale of theaters and subsidiary stock
In October 2009, the news was released that National Amusements would be selling almost $1 billion of stock they own in CBS and Viacom. National Amusements has sold 35 theaters to Rave Motion Pictures. Today these theatres are owned by Cinemark, AMC, Carmike, Alamo, or have closed. National Amusements now almost exclusively operates theaters in the Northeast (with the exception of one location in Ohio).

Main competitors

 * Bow Tie Cinemas
 * Cinemark Theatres
 * Regal Entertainment Group
 * Marcus Corporation