Philippe Dauman, the former Viacom CEO who is still non-executive chairman of the board, has effectively left the conglomerate, waiving a deal where he would present an offer from Dalian Wanda Group to purchase a 49% stake in Paramount Pictures. At the same time, the Viacom board could be facing a potential legal standoff with the top executive at the film studio.
For Thomas Dooley, securing the job as chief executive of Viacom Inc. might have been the easy part. Fixing the struggling media company will take more work.
Media mogul Sumner Redstone’s boardroom war for control of Viacom Inc. has ended in victory with the resignation of Chief Executive Philippe Dauman and the installation of new members to the company’s board. Viacom’s board late Thursday elected Thomas Dooley as CEO.
Viacom Inc. CEO Philippe Dauman and COO Thomas Dooley have reserved their legal right to resign “with good reason” in a move to protect tens of millions of dollars in potential severance pay. According to regulatory filings made public on Monday, Dauman and Dooley sent letters reserving the right to resign if a judge issues a final order approving Sumner Redstone’s action last month to remove Dauman and four other directors from Viacom’s board.
Robert Freedman claims that Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, CEO Philippe Dauman and COO Thomas Dooley were overpaid $36.6 million and the shareholder is taking the trio to court to get the money back.
