NEW YORK - JUNE 2: (FILE PHOTO) The Viacom logo is seen outside company headquarters June 2, 2003 in New York City. Viacom, Inc. announced October 23, 2003 that it had exceeded its third quarter earnings target as net income rose to $700 million or 9%. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Viacom is close to acquiring VidCon, TheWrap has learned from multiple people with knowledge of the deal. Jim Louderback, who was named VidCon CEO in August, will stay on to run the company, we’re told.

The acquisition of the annual online video conference is part of Viacom’s larger push into influencer marketing. The Bob Bakish-led Viacom purchased WhoSay last month under the same effort. Agency UTA helped arrange the Viacom-VidCon deal.

This year’s U.S. VidCon is scheduled for June 20-23, 2018 in Anaheim, California. VidCon Europe will take place from March 22-24, while the Australian version is set for Sept. 1-2.

Also Read: CBS, Viacom to Evaluate Potential Merger

Meanwhile, Viacom and its former sister company CBS are flirting with a reunion. The CBS board recently established a special committee to explore merging with Viacom once more.

As TheWrap reported last month, Viacom and CBS vice-chairwoman Shari Redstone had begun pursuing a potential merger after concluding that a bigger footprint would be necessary for the companies to thrive. CBS chairman Les Moonves, who had long resisted talk of recombining the companies, is said to now be open to the possibility.

Redstone’s father, Sumner Redstone, first brought CBS and Viacom together in 2000, only to cleave them again in 2006. Rumblings of a reunification have periodically surfaced ever since, most significantly in September 2016 when National Amusements, the parent company of both media corporations, asked the boards of each to explore the possibility — talks which eventually fell by the wayside.

Golden Parachutes: See How Much These 10 Execs Got Paid to Leave (Photos)

Philippe Dauman, Marissa Mayer and Michael Ovitz are among a handful of entertainment and tech executives who were handed handsome sums of money while they were being forced out the door. (Please note: All totals are from SEC filings and other official sources.)
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Name: Philippe Dauman
Company: Viacom
Payday: $72 million
Sumner Redstone's former protege -- and for years, one of America's highest-paid CEOs -- took home $72 million as part of a settlement that will see him depart the embattled media company in September.
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Name: Roger Ailes
Company: Fox News
Payday: $40 million
Ailes left the news network he essentially built after a lawsuit filed by a former Fox News anchorwoman led to an investigation, and several other women coming forward accusing Ailes of sexual assault. Ailes resigned two weeks after the lawsuit was filed and received $40 million.
Fox News
Name: Michael Ovitz
Company: The Walt Disney Company
Payday: $140 million
Not a CEO, the co-founder of Creative Artists Agency made $140 million in less than a year's work as the executive president of Disney, when he was fired by then-CEO Michael Eisner, triggering a severance package that was built into his deal -- and which Disney shareholders unsuccessfully tried to have returned in court.
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Name: Carly Fiorina
Company: Hewlett-Packard
Payday: $21 million
The former Republican presidential candidate -- and Ted Cruz's presumptive running mate -- pocketed $21 million when she was forced to resign after orchestrating a disastrous acquisition of Compaq.
Fox News
Name: Marissa Mayer
Company: Yahoo
Payday: $55 million
Mayer hasn't yet committed to leaving, but she's widely expected to depart the top job after Yahoo agreed to be purchased by Verizon for $4.8 billion. Mayer is guaranteed $55 million in severance if she loses her job or if there is a change in control.
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Name: Henrique de Castro
Company: Yahoo
Payday: $58 billion
It turns out there is actually a good time to get fired: Mayer canned de Castro, Yahoo's chief operating officer, in 2014, but his heavily stock-based severance package was worth a robust $58 million, as Yahoo's stock had swelled at the time due to its ownership interest in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
YouTube
Name: Tom Freston
Company: Viacom
Payday: $85 million
Freston, Dauman's precedessor and the man who essentially built MTV, was fired by Redstone in 2006. One of the biggest reasons: his failure to buy MySpace, which News Corp. eventually sold in 2011 for a $545 million loss.
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Name: Rob Marcus
Company: Time Warner Cable
Payday: $93 million
Time Warner Cable was acquired by Charter Communications earlier this year, making his CEO job redundant. Marcus walked away with nearly $100 million after two-and-a-half years of work.
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Name: Jack Welch
Company: General Electric
Payday: $417 million
GE's pugnacious boss scored the granddaddy of all severance packages, walking away with a monster deal that only became public during a divorce settlement that mandated the disclosure of his retirement benefits.
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Name: Amy Pascal
Company: Sony
Payday: Four-year production deal, valued at $40 million
Pascal, whose personal emails were exposed as a result of the Sony hack landing her in hot water regarding references to President Obama -- was fired as co-chair of Sony's film division in the wake of the scandal. She got a production deal -- not uncommon for high-level studio execs -- that has her attached to some of the studio's biggest franchises, including "Spider-Man" and "Ghostbusters."
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Philippe Dauman is the second consecutive Viacom CEO to walk away with a monster severance package

Philippe Dauman, Marissa Mayer and Michael Ovitz are among a handful of entertainment and tech executives who were handed handsome sums of money while they were being forced out the door. (Please note: All totals are from SEC filings and other official sources.)

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