Viacom Discloses Details of Philippe Dauman’s $72 Million Settlement Deal
Philippe Dauman will leave his post as Viacom chairman-CEO next month with a $46 million check in hand as part of a severance package estimated to be worth about $72 million.
Dauman will also be eligible for a 2016 bonus of up to $20 million, under the terms of the settlement disclosed Tuesday morning in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Viacom, the media conglom that Dauman has led for the past 10 years.
The filing also confirms that new Viacom board member Thomas May, chairman of Massachusetts-based Eversource Energy, has already been elected to serve as non-executive chairman following Dauman’s exit on Sept. 13. Dauman’s role as CEO will be filled by his longtime lieutenant, former Viacom COO Thomas Dooley, through at least Sept. 30, which marks the end of Viacom’s fiscal year.
The deal calls for Dauman to receive a severance payment of $58 million, most of which will be payable upon his exit. The remaining $11.6 million will be paid out over the next 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.
On Monday, Viacom disclosed that as part of the settlement agreement it had accelerated 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.
As previously disclosed, 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.
Dauman’s exit deal also gives him the right to make a presentation to the new Viacom board, which added five new members as part of the settlement agreement, on his bid to sell a minority interest in Viacom’s Paramount Pictures.
As part of that process, the board will meet with Dooley and Paramount’s management, presumably including chairman Brad Grey, 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.” The filing makes it clear that activity at Paramount will be closely watched by the new board which may require that even some routine transactions receive the approval of the board.
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