On September 13th Viacom‘s CEO Philippe Dauman will leave the company which he has led for the past 10 years. To soften the blow he bows out with a severance package estimated to be worth in total about $72 million. He will receive cash payments of almost $58 million, $46 million of which will be paid in cash immediately upon his departure. The remaining $11.6 million will be paid out over the subsequent 29 months.
The ousted CEO also gets to keep his health care package for two years, while Viacom will fund outside office space for him and the salary and benefits for his executive assistant for three more years.
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According to the terms of the settlement disclosed Tuesday morning in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Viacom, Dauman will also be eligible for a 2016 bonus of up to an additional $20 million.
The deal also covers all of Dauman’s legal expenses incurred during the past three months as he battled Viacom controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone and his daughter, Shari Redstone, for control of Viacom.
As part of the agreement now struck had the vesting of 300, 000 shares, at a value of about $12.85 million, that Dauman was entitled to as part of a stock award he received in January 2015 has been accelerated.
The deal also gives him the right to make a presentation to the new Viacom board on his bid to sell a minority interest in Viacom’s Paramount Pictures.
Thomas May, chairman of Massachusetts-based Eversource Energy, has been elected to serve as non-executive chairman following Dauman’s exit, while Dauman’s role as CEO will be filled by former Viacom COO Thomas Dooley, through at least Sept. 30, the end of Viacom’s fiscal year.
The board will meet with Dooley and Paramount’s management soon for a review of the studio’s 2016 performance, its 2017 budget and “planned business activities in such level of detail as the Viacom Board may request.”
Activity at Paramount will be closely watched by the new board which added five new members as part of the settlement agreement. Now even some routine transactions receive the approval of the board.
