Redstone and Dauman Reach Settlement

Sumner Redstone and Philippe Dauman come to pretrial agreement.

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman and Viacom’s board of directors have given up the fight and come to an agreement with Sumner Redstone, 93, according to a Los Angeles Times article “The Redstones' war with Viacom ends: Philippe Dauman resigns, Tom Dooley elected new CEO.”

Redstone recently won a court fight with his ex-girlfriend over his mental competence but then faced another battle when Dauman filed a similar suit but it appears Dauman and the Viacom board members backing him realized they did not have the resources to successfully wage a protracted battle against Redstone. Thus, for the sake of the company, they decided to give up the fight.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dauman will resign as Viacom’s CEO and receive a $72 million golden parachute negotiated in his last contrast with the company. Dauman will also be allowed to argue to the board that Viacom should sell off a large part of its stake in Paramount Pictures, a move which Redstone opposes.

The challenges to Redstone’s competency began when his formerly estranged daughter came back into his life and was given a prominent role in his affairs and the family trust. The daughter was accused of using undue influence over Redstone to get him to change his plans.

It is not known whether there will be any more challenges from others who were pushed aside by the daughter’s reemergence.

Reference: Los Angeles Times (Aug. 20, 2016) “The Redstones' war with Viacom ends: Philippe Dauman resigns, Tom Dooley elected new CEO.”