CBS (NYSE: CBS) is coming indoors -- or at least swearing off Outdoor.
On Tuesday, the media company announced that it has received an irrevocable binding offer from private equity shop Platinum Equity to buy all assets of its CBS Outdoor International business for $225 million. Outdoor sells billboard advertising space to corporate customers in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and China.
Commenting on the sale, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said: "Today's news represents a key strategic milestone for CBS. As we continue to focus our company around creating and distributing premium content, we are very pleased to announce that we will achieve very good value for these Outdoor properties."
According to data provided by Hoovers.com, the deal's value only works out to about 0.81 times Outdoor's fiscal 2012 sales, however. That's a significant discount to the overall 2.27 price-to-sales ratio that CBS, as a whole, commands. On the other hand, CBS, as a whole, is currently profitable, and earned in excess of $1.6 billion last year. CBS Outdoor International, in contrast, lost money last year.
