CEO OUSTED FROM VIACOM\Founder ends 9-year partnership with Biondi.Byline: Mark Landler Mark Aurel Landler (born October 26, 1965 in Stuttgart, Germany[1]) is an American journalist who has been the European economic correspondent of The New York Times, based in Frankfurt, Germany, since July 2002[2]. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Viacom Inc. on Wednesday ousted its president and chief executive, Frank J. Biondi Jr., severing a nine-year partnership between Biondi and the company's billionaire chairman, Sumner Redstone Sumner Murray Redstone (born Sumner Murray Rothstein on May 27 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts) is majority owner and Chairman of the Board of the National Amusements theater chain. Through National Amusements, he is majority owner of Midway Games, Viacom and CBS Corporation. . Redstone said that Viacom needed more aggressive leadership as it tried to build on its twin 1993 acquisitions of the Paramount Communications Paramount Communications Media and communications corporation. It was founded (as Paramount Pictures Corp.) by W. W. Hodkinson in 1914 as a film distributor. It became a motion-picture company two years later and won attention with stars such as Mary Pickford, Gloria and Blockbuster Entertainment corporations. "Frank's style was terrific for the old Viacom," Redstone said, "but we face enormous new challenges and opportunities." Viacom's cable networks, which include MTV MTV in full Music Television U.S. cable television network, established in 1980 to present videos of musicians and singers performing new rock music. MTV won a wide following among rock-music fans worldwide and greatly affected the popular-music business. and Nickelodeon, are uniformly healthy. But the Paramount film studio and Blockbuster unit had disappointing results in the fourth quarter of 1995. After two industry analysts lowered their profit targets for the company Jan. 4, its class B shares plummeted by 8.8 percent in one session, to $42.375. The announcement of Biondi's dismissal was made after the stock market closed Wednesday. Viacom's class B shares ended regular American Stock Exchange American Stock Exchange (AMEX) Stock exchange in the U.S. Originally known as “the Curb,” it began as an outdoor marketplace in New York City c. 1850. It moved indoors to its present location in the Wall Street area in 1921. trading at $41.125, up 87.5 cents, but in after-hours trading after-hours trading The trading of securities after the exchanges are closed. After-hours trading often refers to trading a listed security in the over-the-counter market after the exchanges have been closed for the day. they fell to $39. Redstone, who said he had been mulling over the change for weeks, informed Biondi of his decision in a 20-minute meeting Wednesday afternoon at Viacom's headquarters in midtown Manhattan. Biondi said he was caught completely off-guard by the news. But he acknowledged that his working relationship with Redstone had eroded somewhat in recent months as Redstone took more of a hands-on role in operating the company. "We weren't having as much fun we did eight years ago," Biondi said. Redstone, 72, said that he would assume the duties of chief executive. He also appointed a seven-member executive committee to set broad strategy for the company. Two members of that group, Thomas E. Dooley Thomas E. Dooley is Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Viacom. He has served at this post since September 2006, and assumed the position of Chief Financial Officer in January 2007. Mr. and Philippe P. Dauman, are close advisers of Redstone and have been promoted to deputy chairmen of Viacom. Redstone said he had no immediate plans to name a new chief executive, but several industry executives said that Dooley and Dauman would both be potential candidates for the job. Executives familiar with Viacom said that Biondi had become isolated since the Paramount and Blockbuster mergers, while Dauman and Dooley have assumed more powerful roles. In particular, Dauman had emerged as a potent rival to Biondi. In addition to serving as Viacom's general counsel and Redstone's personal lawyer, Dauman is the co-executor of Redstone's will. According to the company's bylaws The rules and regulations enacted by an association or a corporation to provide a framework for its operation and management. Bylaws may specify the qualifications, rights, and liabilities of membership, and the powers, duties, and grounds for the dissolution of an , Dauman would become Viacom's chairman in the event of Redstone's death. Though Redstone and Biondi insisted that this provision was not a source of friction, executives close to the company said it was symptomatic of Biondi's increasingly tenuous relationship with Redstone. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo (Color) Frank Biondi Jr., left, has been ousted by Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone. Associated Press |
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