Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman received $336 million in total compensation for fiscal year 2014,
the
New York Times
’ “DealBook” column noted.
The article, written by William D. Cohan, that “during Mr. Dauman’s tenure at Viacom, there hasn’t been much correlation between his compensation, how he has managed the company and how its stock has performed. All that seems to have mattered for Mr. Dauman’s job security and his compensation — from an outside perspective anyway — has been how well he has managed Sumner M. Redstone, the 92-year-old chairman of Viacom and the company’s largest and controlling shareholder.”
The article said that the two men have known each other since 1986 and that “from a corporate governance point of view,” aspects of their relationship are “terribly worrying.”
Cohan wrote, “Mr. Dauman is also a director of National Amusements, Mr. Redstone’s privately held movie theater company that controls his multibillion-dollar stakes in both Viacom and CBS. He is also one of seven trustees of Mr. Redstone’s generation-skipping, irrevocable confidential trust that will take control of Mr. Redstone’s Viacom and CBS shares when … he dies.
“Mr. Dauman is a walking conflict when it comes to Mr. Redstone,” Cohan wrote. “Mr.D Dauman not only works for Mr. Redsteon, he also will help decide what happens to his fortune, as well as the two companies, Viacom and CBS, that underlie it, when Mr. Redstone dies.”
Furthermore, Cohan wrote, Dauman is the “sole agent” for Redstone’s advanced health care directive. In this capacity, Cohen wrote, Dauman “influences whether Mr. Redstone lives or dies.” (Source: “DealBook,”
New York Times
, Dec. 17, 2015.)
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