PARAMOUNT REMOVES ITSELF FROM THE DREAMWORKS' EQUATION

The Los Angeles Times has reported that Paramount has removed itself as a suitor for DreamWorks. The newspaper indicated that executives at Paramount's corporate parent, Viacom, made the decision because they felt that investors might balk at such an acquisition just as Viacom was planning to split into two publicly traded companies.

The Times said that Paramount chief Brad Grey had "fiercely championed the idea of bringing DreamWorks into the studio's fold" but that his plans to do so were torpedoed last weekend at a meeting with Viacom chief Sumner Redstone and Viacom co-President Tom Freston in Scottsdale, AZ.