The Viacom board might want to lawyer up.
The next move by Sumner Redstone, the 92-year-old controlling shareholder of the media giant, could be to shake up the 10-member board, The Post has learned.
The board has come under intense fire in recent quarters for Viacom’s poor performance — and recently it has shown a lack of independence from the chief executive, Philippe Dauman, critics said Monday.
The hiring of Michael Tu by Redstone as his new legal counsel could offer a peek into the media mogul’s thinking, sources said.
Tu advises “auditors regarding corporate governance and disclosure issues,” according to his biography.
Redstone’s daughter, Shari Redstone — who now has control of the Redstone family trust and is her father’s health care agent — had been on a search for lawyers to figure out if the Viacom board “has been misled,” one source noted.
Viacom’s lead independent director, Fred Salerno, e-mailed staff Saturday night to throw his support behind Dauman after the CEO and fellow board member George Abrams were axed from Sumner Redstone’s inner circle.
“We believe that Philippe and the entire management team have a strong and smart plan to move forward and prosper, and we support that plan. Most of all, we have confidence in all of you, Viacom’s world-class employees who are the key to that bright future,” the e-mail read.
The message was sent via the office of Dauman and Chief Operating Officer Tom Dooley, leaving some scratching their heads as to its purported independence.
Others questioned the need to make the statement at all given that Dauman’s status at Viacom has not changed.
Dauman and Abrams received word on Friday that they were being removed as directors from the Sumner Redstone family trust and from the National Amusements Inc. board.
NAI controls 80 percent of the voting stock of both CBS and Viacom.
The two Viacom executives filed a lawsuit on Monday morning to overturn the move. Sumner Redstone, they claim, is now being “manipulated” by his daughter.
“Sumner Redstone is saddened that Dauman is trying to make this dispute about his daughter,” Robert Klieger, a lawyer for the media mogul, said in a statement.
As part of the growing hostility between Redstone and Dauman — longtime compadres — the Viacom CEO by Monday night fired off another salvo aimed at the Viacom founder’s competence.
Dauman last fall said Redstone was “engaged and attentive” — only to claim Redstone wasn’t with it when he ousted him on Friday.
Trying to find discrepancies between the two statement was deemed “ outrageous,” by Dauman’s lawyer, in a statement.
Meanwhile, Wall Street appeared to applaud the possibility of change in the Viacom boardroom.
“The market has to balance uncertainty with the likelihood of whether Philippe Dauman will be replaced by someone who could do a better job,” Nomura analyst Anthony DiClemente told The Post. “It’s a juicy story.”
Viacom stock closed up 2.8 percent, to $43.34.