CBS Offers to Buy Own Stock

NEW YORK — CBS Inc. threw a major curve at broadcaster Ted Turner’s bid to acquire the network by offering today to buy 21% of its own stock from shareholders at $150 a share, or $954.8 million.

Turner has valued his no-cash bid at $175 a share, but some analysts have valued the offer at around $150 a share. Analysts said certain terms of the today’s CBS proposal placed Turner’s offer in serious jeopardy and suggested he would be forced to alter the bid if he wanted to continue pursuing CBS.