The tender offer is scheduled to expire on March 14. The company said it will accept a portion of its 2016 notes that are validly tendered and not withdrawn before 5 p.m. EDT on Feb. 28.

The company has a total of $1.5 billion of the notes outstanding.

Viacom has retained BofA Merrill Lynch, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo Securities to serve as dealer managers in the tender offer.

Class A shares of Viacom slid 27 cents to $51.27 in late morning trading.

Traders are monitoring the situation in Cairo as protesters and regime supporters skirmished for a second day at a central Cairo square while new lawlessness spread around the city. New looting and arson erupted, and gangs of thugs supporting President Hosni Mubarak attacked reporters, foreigners and rights workers while the army rounded up foreign journalists.

Though the market impact of Egypt's turmoil has diminished as the week progressed, it continues to fuel uncertainty.

"Fresh turmoil in Egypt and risk of contagion will unsettle equity markets and maintain upward pressure on oil price," said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 0.3 percent at 5,983.34 while Germany's DAX rose 0.1 percent to 7,193.68. The CAC-40 underperformed its peers, ending 0.7 percent lower at 4,036.59.

Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. has reached a settlement with a former employee over just payment for her work.

Court records show U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon dismissed the lawsuit filed by Dannette Stackhouse, citing the settlement. Details were not disclosed.

Stackhouse's attorney Peter Glennon declined to comment. A message left Wednesday for a Dick's attorney wasn't immediately returned.

Stackhouse said in her lawsuit that employees were forced to work through breaks, were unpaid for overtime and were sometimes locked in the store until work was finished. Her lawsuit was filed on behalf of roughly 900 Dick's workers in Nebraska and sought class-action status.

Stackhouse worked in the sporting goods retailer's Papillion location.

Pittsburgh-based Dick's says it has more than 420 stores in 41 states, including three in Nebraska.

BlackRock, the world's biggest money management company, says it holds nearly 7 percent of the Class B stock of Warren Buffett's company.

BlackRock revealed Wednesday that it owns 68.4 million Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The New York-based money manager said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it held the shares at the end of 2010.

The stake will likely give BlackRock's investors little say in Berkshire because each of the company's Class B shares carries one-ten-thousandth of the voting rights of a Class A share.

Omaha-based Berkshire owns roughly 80 subsidiaries, including insurance, clothing, utility, furniture, jewelry and corporate jet firms. It also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co., Washington Post Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

A federal judge in Maine says 40 residents with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other conditions can join a lawsuit seeking to force the state to provide opportunities for them to live outside nursing homes.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock granted class-action status to a lawsuit filed by three men with cerebral palsy who want to live on their own but retain services provided by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

In the lawsuit filed in December 2009, the three argued the state violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Nursing Home Reform Act because it failed to make it possible for them to live outside nursing homes.

The Bangor Daily News says state officials couldn't be reached Wednesday because of the storm.