Sumner Redstone removed five members of the Viacom board Thursday, including CEO Philippe Dauman, as the nonagenarian billionaire reasserts control of the media company and moves closer to eliminating Dauman as CEO. “It is certainly in the interests of all of Viacom’s stockholders that the MA actions be pursued in order to preserve the independence of Viacom’s board”.
Advertisement
Dauman has insisted that the company will move forward with a sale, which he said would add $10 a share to Viacom’s stock price. Shares of CBS Corp, also majority-owned by Redstone, closed up 2.4 percent.
National Amusements says it also filed papers with a DE court to reaffirm the move, which it expected to be challenged by the ousted directors. The suit claims Shari Redstone is the spearhead behind National Amusements’ latest moves, and aims to reduce her perceived power.
“Viacom will pay or promptly reimburse Mr. Dauman’s and Mr. Abrams’ costs and expenses (including attorney’s fees, expert witness fees and fees of public relations and other consultants) actually and reasonably incurred” in connection with their legal effort to invalidate their removal by Redstone from the seven-person trust that will ultimately control his media empire, the filing said.
New Viacom directors are: Kenneth Lerer, managing partner at Lerer Hippeau Ventures and the chairman of BuzzFeed; Thomas May, chairman of Eversource Energy; Judith McHale, president and chief executive officer of Cane Investments and a former
Shari Redstone was not immediately available to comment.
Redstone’s National Amusements, which owns 80% of Viacom’s voting stock, changed Viacom’s bylaws last week to require full approval from the board before selling any stake in Paramount. As Redstone fired executive after executive and fought with his family in public, Dauman rose from lawyer to deputy to prodigal son.
Dauman and another ousted director, George Abrams, also brought a suit in a MA probate court last month asking to be reinstated to their roles on both National Amusements and the Redstone family trust after being stripped of their positions.
Redstone’s representatives contend that is a big reason why Dauman has lost the trust of the ailing mogul.
“Sadly, it is now clear that Mr. Redstone is being manipulated and used by his daughter in an attempt to accomplish her long-held goal of gaining complete control of Viacom”, Salerno said. He calls the new board “hand-selected by Shari”.
Advertisement
The aggressive moves mean that Dauman’s days at the helm of the company are numbered, according to BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield.
