COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

Viacom Completes Tender Offer for Paramount: Although it will still be several weeks before the merger of the two companies is completed, Viacom, which owns MTV, Nickelodeon and other cable channels, said it accepted for payment nearly 61.7 million Paramount shares under terms of a $107-a-share cash tender offer for 50.1% of its nearly 123 million shares. It said more than 120.3 million shares were tendered by the midnight Tuesday deadline for the tender offer. As a result, it will determine the pro-ration for accepting the shares tendered by March 11, when it intends to pay for the controlling stake. It will exchange securities for the remaining 49.9% of Paramount shares at a later date.