that may have also added at least to shari redstone's decision to reverse course at this point and sayrom our perspective at national amusements, we want both of you to stay independent. and that's where they will be. of course, the stocks reacting to that news. >> david, stick around, because we want to bring in walter isaacson, president and ceo of the aspen institute, as well as the former chairman and ceo of cnn. walter, what do you make of shari redstone's decision, and do you think five years down the line it will have been the right one to shun scale in favor of potentially preserving your governance control? >> yeah, i think it's the right decision, as david faber, and congratulations, david, on your scoop, said. having scale is good in this over the top world to make sure you have the leverage to get all your brands out there. on the other hand, i've grown up in a media world in which i was at time and time inc. and then time warner, aol time warner, turner, then separated again, and i'm somewhat skeptical of media consolidation and i kind of flinch when i hear the word synerg

backus getting the backing of his most important shareholder shari redstone.gain, in this letter that should be released in the not too distant future and sent to the company saying, hey, we want you to discontinue conversations and we like the strategy you're pursuing. >> wow. i think that obviously viacom many people are hoping for something but cbs has been trading an at pretty big discount to the s&p. they have done a lot of good things. cbs radio deal. i mean, they have to sell off 15 times earnings and earning more than four bucks cbs undervalued on that story. a lot of people thought that cbs paying too much no matter what. >> it's funny because the people indicated to me any deal -- any offer not fairly significant premium would fall on deaf ears and didn't appear to have the momentum and talk of leslie moo moonves and ms. redstone negotiating for governance and what's most significant is performance of mr. backus with confidence of the largest hair shoulder and i had conversations with viacom shareholders and see does seem to be on top of it. he will

>> well, shari redstone certainly thinks that he is.lose to her have said that she was really incredibly impressed by his short, so far, tenure, his strategy and ideas. so i think he's going to have a decent runway to prove himself. liz: keach, i'm going to ask a question that may be a little uncomfortable, but we cover not just the horse, but we cover the jockey, and i need to know who the crock key is at -- jockey is at viacom. is sumner redstone, is he really engaged and running the show, or is it really all shari at this point? there have been so many questions, is he there? is he competent? what is going on with the head of this giant that you have discovered and found out in your reporting? >> well, we saw yesterday the letter from national amusements had both sumner and shari's signatures on it, that was a pretty interesting data point. you know, he's 93 years old and not in great health. i don't think there's anything controversial about that and that shari has been playing a much more hands-on role over the last year, and she i

this comes after earlier this week sumner and his daughter shari redstone called off the merger theycbs and viacom, the two media companies that their national amusements control. and they named bob bakkish as permanent ceo of the company also naming him to the board. back over to you. >> julia, thank you. julia boorstin. jim, end of an era and some big questions about what the future of viacom is. >> right. i think what we're seeing here is the natural progression of something that's been going on now for at least really kind of over a year. and it's really the solidify kags of the next -- of the hand off here to shari redstone who really clearly is in control here. following on this abrupt change in strategy, you know, to merge, now to keep them separate, which by the way i agree makes some sense particularly if there might be -- i mean -- paramount could be a very attractive asset. we've seen what's happened with time warner. you start to turn that thing around a little bit could probably get a good multiple on that. we'll see what the future holds there. but clearly we are dealin