Interim Viacom CEO to leave, dividend slashed
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NEW YORK — Viacom says interim CEO Tom Dooley will leave Nov. 15 and the company is cutting its dividend in half in the first major moves from the company since longtime CEO Philippe Dauman left in August.
Dooley was installed after Dauman was pushed out as part of a settlement the Viacom board approved with National Amusements, a private company owned by the 93-year-old Redstone that holds controlling stakes in both Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. It was part of a long running legal battle between Dauman and Sumner Redstone’s daughter Shari, now a Viacom director and president of National Amusements, over the fate of Redstone’s media empire.
Viacom, which owns the Paramount Pictures movie studio and pay TV channels such as Comedy Central, MTV, BET and others, has been struggling to improve its profit as Paramount has struggled to produce hits and cable viewership declines.
Dauman had sought to sell a stake in Paramount to improve results. But Viacom said Wednesday that is has dropped plans to seek a minority investor as it considers all options available.
