He could potentially receive almost $90 million in severance, according to compensation consultant Equilar. Redstone and his daughter have been fighting to remove Dauman and fellow board member George Abrams from the company and a trust that will govern the family’s holdings in Viacom and CBS Corp. after Sumner’s death.
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The remaining 20% is held by Shari Redstone, who in recent years has had a hard relationship with her father, and has previously refused an offer to sell her stake back to the company. Dauman had claimed his ailing boss did not have the mental or physical capabilities to make such a decision and was under the undue influence of Shari Redstone.
Mr Redstone also moved to kick Mr Dauman and four other directors off the board in June, sparking litigation in DE to block the attempt.
Finding the right CEO becomes the job of a new Viacom board of directors, one which Redstone has been trying to appoint since he announced his lack of faith in Dauman and a number of directors in June. Three of the existing directors are expected to step down after Viacom’s annual meeting next year, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.
NAI controls around 80 percent of the voting shares in both CBS and Viacom even though it has a small economic stake.
Sumner Redstone spent years heaping praise on Dauman, calling him “the wisest man I know”, and telling investors and others that he viewed Dauman as his rightful corporate heir – not his daughter or his son, Brent Redstone, who left the family business a decade ago with a $250 million settlement.
It’s not a lot of time for Dooley to leave his mark at the company, which owns Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and VH1. This month, the company reported that profits dropped by 29 per cent in the third quarter, marred by the box-office flop of Paramount’s latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film and lower advertising revenues at its cable channels. He has also worked hard to turn the company around with better target commercials and also renewed a contract with Dish network.
Viacom has seen its stock price sink sharply – almost 50% – over the two years, due to poor TV advertising results from its networks and mediocre results from its Paramount Pictures unit.
Before leaving, he is expected to present a plan to sell a small stake in Paramount Pictures.
The long battle over control of Viacom appears over, and by all accounts, Sumner Redstone won. However, representatives of Redstone said he opposed the sale and then Dauman later said he misunderstood.
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The ink is barely dry on Viacom’s settlement with outgoing CEO Philippe Dauman and already Wall Street is hoping that the slumping entertainment giant will reunite with former sibling CBS, led by longtime chief Les Moonves.
