Viacom-CBS: What's Next For Les Moonves?

Les Moonves

62-yerar-old Philippe Dauman long considered overpaid by his many critics on Wall Street. And the severance package that was supposed to be ratified in the settlement is not likely to quell those protests, reports Variety.

The Viacom boss had seen his fortunes rise as the acquisitive Redstone built Viacom into a behemoth, with a market value that now stands at $19 billion. But his stature dipped precipitously, especially with the increasing struggle of the conglomerate’s sprawling cable television outlets against a regiment of new media competitors. With Paramount also falling at, or near, the bottom of the box office rankings in recent times, the company’s stock has declined more than 45% from its 2014 high of more than $88 a share.

The son of French immigrants will leave his post with the question of corporate succession still not entirely settled. While the agreement only guarantees Dooley the interim CEO position, it also makes him eligible to win the post permanently. But some insiders and most independent analysts believe that Viacom’s reconstituted board almost surely will turn to someone else.

One theory is that the Viacom board – including five new members who will take their seats once the settlement takes full effect, according to sources – will appoint CBS Corp. CEO and chairman Les Moonves to the same roles at Viacom.

CBS and Viacom had been joined as a single corporation until 2006, when Redstone cleaved the two into separate operations, saying that they needed to be more nimble and specialized in a new media landscape tilted toward digital programming. While there has been speculation that CBS and Viacom could be rejoined, most observers believe that would present too many governance and value complications.

Moonves’s elevation would seem to solve, at least temporarily, concerns about Viacom’s flagging performance.

The one-time actor is known to be a favorite of Shari Redstone, 62, the former prosecutor and tech investor who sits on the boards of both of the family companies and is viewed as having an outsized role in their future. Shari has long touted Moonves’s management skills and business savvy, in contrast to those of Dauman, who she viewed as overly cautious. The Redstone heiress was seen huddling with Moonves at this spring’s Allen & Company moguls retreat in Sun Valley Idaho.