MUMBAI: A little over a month has passed since Tom Freston quit US media conglomerate Viacom. He will receive $84.8 million in severance, accrued salary and restricted stock payments.
Media reports state that he also reached a deal with Viacom to serve as an advisor to the company for the next three years, for which he will receive an additional $1 million per year, an arrangement he can cancel with two week’s notice.
As had been reported last month by Indiantelevision.com Redstone’s dumping a loyal lieutenant who built MTV into a global entertainment powerhouse was over Freston’s failure to aggressively chase the social networking site MySpace. News Corp bought MySpace for $ 580 million which has turned out out to be a great price. Redstone was also looking for a more entrepenurial CEO. He probably felt that longtime board member Philippe Dauman and Thomas Dooley would be more suited.
