Viacom has ousted Philippe Dauman as its CEO and appointed Thomas Dooley as interim president and CEO in his place, the company officially announced on Saturday.
In a news release, Viacom said Dauman will resign immediately as President and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom and will be succeeded by Thomas Dooley, who will serve as Interim President and CEO through September 30, 2016, the end of Viacom’s fiscal year, by which time the Board, working with Dooley, will make a decision on succession plans.
Under the terms of the settlement, all lawsuits among Dauman, board members and Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari Redstone will be terminated. In addition, Viacom will create an expanded Board of Directors to include the five Viacom directors elected in June by National Amusements Inc., the privately held Redstone company which has an 80 percent stake in both Viacom and CBS.
Dauman said in the release, “I care deeply for Viacom, which has been an important part of my life since I joined Sumner in the acquisition of the Company 30 years ago. I believe this agreement will give the Company and its employees the best opportunity to continue a smooth evolution into the future. I will do my utmost to ensure an effective Board and management transition in my remaining time as Non-Executive Chairman.”
He continued, “It has been a privilege to lead Viacom and have the rare opportunity to work side by side with so many friends and colleagues to build great brands and implement successful initiatives in the U.S. and around the world. Most of all, I am proud of our people, our culture and our inclusive values.”
Viacom’s board approved an agreement that ended a multi-pronged legal battle with Sumner Redstone, and Shari Redstone. Dauman, however, doesn’t come out empty-handed — he is set to receive a package worth an estimated $72 million.
Although Sumner Redstone mentored Dauman for much of their shared careers, the Redstone/ National Amusements camp recently argued that Dauman had done a bad job running the publicly traded corporation, whose stock price has basically halved since its height two years in the midst of troubled performance by cable networks like MTV and Comedy Central as well as the Paramount movie studio.
Earlier this month, NAI issued a press release saying, “Mr. Dauman is the third highest paid CEO in the United States and among the worst as measured by pay for performance. Including his pre‐negotiated ‘golden parachute,’ he stands to receive almost a half billion dollars for a tenure that has seen the marked decline of one of the nation’s greatest media companies.”
A Timeline of Sumner Redstone's Crazy Life in Pictures (Photos)
May 27, 1923: Sumner Murray Rothstein (later Redstone; pictured) is born in Boston, and the media world will never be the same.
1993: Redstone's Viacom acquires film studio Paramount Pictures.
This April, the aging figurehead publicly stated that he doesn't want to sell a minority stake in that company. The Viacom Board of Directors, on the other hand, is pushing for that to happen as early as end-of-June.
2000: Viacom and the so-called Tiffany Network, CBS, merge. It wouldn't last.
Just five years later, Viacom and CBS split, though the two publicly traded companies are still under the same umbrella -- Redstone's National Amusements, Inc. still controls 80 percent of both companies today.
2006: Shortly after the spinning off, Sumner began feuding publicly with daughter Shari (the pair pictured together here) over her role within the companies.
On September 5 of that year, Sumner Redstone taps legal counsel Philippe Dauman to lead Viacom. Shari Redstone and Dauman seemingly haven't gotten along since then, though she's apparently repaired the relationship with her ailing father.
October 2015: Sumner Redstone's longtime girlfriend Manuela Herzer (pictured) was booted as his healthcare proxy, losing her sizable inheritance in the process.
Dauman became Sumner Redstone's interim proxy, before Shari Redstone re-ingratiated herself and took the role over.
Herzer would sue in May 2016 to get back in the inner circle -- or at least reclaim her spot in Sumner Redstone's will -- but was denied by a judge. Sumner's mental competency was held up at the same hearing, though it wouldn't be the last time an adversary asks someone sitting on the bench to double-check that.
Jan 20, 2016: Activist investor SpringOwl calls for the Sumner Redstone (pictured, from 2012) to step down as Viacom and CBS chairman. The 92-year-old has had problems with his speech for years, and hasn't been able to so much as deliver a pre-written statement during quarterly investor calls.
February 2016: CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves' replaces Sumner Redstone as the broadcast channel's chairman on the third of the month. Sumner Redstone takes on the title of "Chairman Emeritus."
A day later, Philippe Dauman (pictured, right, with Moonves, left, and Redstone, center) made the same exchange with Sumner Redstone at Viacom.
May 18, 2016: The Viacom Board of Directors votes to stop paying Sumner Redstone (pictured at LACMA), a perceived slap in the face by his legal counsel.
If you got a candid answer from someone at Viacom, however, they'd point out that the billionaire has plenty of money and does exactly zero work, so he's just fine. Plus, the company's been trying to cut costs where it can.
May 20, 2016: Sumner Redstone (pictured here with daughter Shari) removes Philippe Dauman and George Abrams as trustees in the Sumner M. Redstone Trust, and as board members of his family business, National Amusements, Inc.
This kicked off much public fighting between the two far-apart sides. The nastiest accusation came from Viacom and Dauman, who accused Shari Redstone of "manipulating" her father's signature.
They're not the only people who believe the daughter is pulling daddy's puppet-strings.
May 23, 2016: Philippe Dauman (pictured) and George Abrams (insert) sue in a Massachusetts court to overrule their oustings.
Across the country, Sumner Redstone's attorneys ask a Los Angeles Court to affirm his competency, which would affirm the removals of Dauman and Abrams.
May 24, 2016: Sumner Redstone (pictured) replaces Philippe Dauman and George Abrams with his granddaughter Kimberlee Ostheimer and a pair of family friends, Tad Jankowski and Jill Krutick.
August 18, 2016: Dauman is ousted from the company in a deal that also settles outstanding legal disputes. Robert Bakish is later named president and CEO of Viacom.
The CBS and Viacom chairman emeritus has survived a fire, family drama and more than his fair share of nonagenarian public humiliation — but he’s still got billions to show for it
May 27, 1923: Sumner Murray Rothstein (later Redstone; pictured) is born in Boston, and the media world will never be the same.