Posted on 04/22/2008 8:12:35 AM PDT by MindBender26
Friends at Black Rock say Looney Liberal Leslie Moonves may be on his way out the door at CBS.
Moonves has overseen a number of CBS fiascos including The Demise Of The Dan (which Rather is about to play out again in a NY courtroom), the hiring of Ratings Remover Perkie Katie Couric as well as very bad ratings for the nightly entertainment (?) block.
And of course, most important of all, stock prices are locked in deep declining do-do.
Supposedly Moonves has lost the faith of Summer Redstone, and when you lose the faith of His Grace, The Chairman, that's about the same as a kiss on the cheek from Michael Corleone!
Last week, Moonves circulated a company-wide speech/memo supposedly designed to renew corporate faith in Miz Katie and her mine shaft ratings.
Was he really asking for renewed faith in himself?
Hock the house, ransom the ranch, bet the under!
Yeah, I figure Perky gets the traditional (for TV and radio) “summer vacation” boot.
CBS wants the new guy in there and warmed up for the election.
Stone Phillips.
I so want Howard Beale...... (so many old friends are so like him......)
What about Bela Lugosi? Maybe The Creature from the Black Lagoon? The Blob?
Does this mean Julie Chen is out, also???
ping
How about Professional Wrestling Hall of Famer George (The Animal) Steele.
He was the professional wrestler who would get so out of control he would eat turnbuckle covers during a match!
(Real name Jim Meyers. Lives here in Central Florida on the beach now. Great guy.)
Sumner Redstone would sell out his own kids for pottage. No, wait! He already has.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118485225025271645.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Redstone Split
Bears On Future
Of Viacom, CBS
By MARTIN PEERS, MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG and MERISSA MARR
July 20, 2007
A falling-out between Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone and his daughter and heir-apparent, Shari Redstone, is raising questions about future control of Mr. Redstone’s media empire, which includes CBS Corp.
Mr. Redstone, 84 years old, is no longer confident his 53-year-old daughter should succeed him as controlling shareholder and chairman when he dies, according to people familiar with the situation. Through his lawyers, he is in negotiations with her to end her involvement with the media empire. The talks are likely to lead to Ms. Redstone’s departure from the boards of Viacom and CBS, at both of which she is nonexecutive vice chairman.
snip
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04222008/business/moonves_waning_107560.htm
MOONVES WANING
By PETER LAURIA
April 22, 2008 — As if CBS chief Les Moonves didn’t have enough to worry about getting his businesses humming again, he now has to contend with Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman conspiring to remove him.
On Sunday, Dauman killed Paramount Pictures’ deal with CBS’ pay-TV channel Showtime in order to start a rival cable network with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lionsgate. According to multiple sources close to or inside Viacom and CBS, Dauman’s decision was fueled by Moonves’ refusal to sweeten a lowball offer on a renewal pact to run Paramount-produced films on Showtime.
“There’s a lot of tension between those two, and this is Philippe putting the screws to Les at the worst possible time,” said one source.
Indeed, people familiar with the matter said Sumner Redstone, who serves as chairman of both Viacom and CBS, has privately expressed frustration to Dauman at CBS’ sagging stock price, the continuing negative press related to CBS’ radio division, a dearth of recent primetime TV hits, and, of course, the fate of evening news host Katie Couric.
These same sources also paint Dauman as an ambitious executive who is one of several candidates, if not the leading one, to succeed the octogenarian Redstone.
Because of that clout, sources said Dauman’s ultimate goal, which factored into the Paramount-Showtime negotiations, is to continue driving CBS’ stock price down to the point where Redstone can justify booting Moonves, much as he did with former Viacom CEO Tom Freston in 2006.
snip
CBS management is stupid but not stupid enough to hire Olverbite.
Les Moonves has had an amazingly long and successful run at CBS. Nothing lasts forever.
Send Les Moonbat back to the cave..
CBS management has one major problem remaining. If and when they move Katie out of the newsroom...the only place to “dump” her...with her contract stipulation....is 60 Minutes. So far, she hasn’t wow’ed anyone at 60 Minutes...and if that is her only job....she will be making two to three times what the other big dudes of 60 Minutes make. They aren’t going to be happy, and this will trigger a salary problem.
I’m guessing 60 Minutes and CBS are already looking at this and would prefer that she just go away....but she won’t....a guaranteed contract has her set for several years. Rumor is...that CBS wants to work a trade...acquiring a big-name from CNN and Katie goes to CNN to eventually replace Larry King. Larry did say last week....that he intends to work through all of next year...with no intention of retiring. I’m betting that CBS is offering some enticements to take Katie and just make Larry King retire...fixing their problem.
My guess is $8,000,000 to 15,000,000 on a walkaway unless the contract already has provisions for ratings-based terminations or termination amounts.
Regardless, she will get a $5,000,000 book deal and a $4,000,000 annual speaking retainer.
CNBC had a story a half-hour ago about the friction between Viacomm’s CEO Phillipe Dauman and Moonves. They said Sumner has a four person board set up to run the show if and when he dies. Dauman is on that board, but Moonves is not.
Moonves is toast.
http://www.jossip.com/philippe-dauman-trying-to-suffocate-les-moonves-20080422/
Philippe Dauman Trying to Suffocate Les Moonves?
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/reading_the_redstone_tea_leaves_cbs_s_moonves_is_toast
Reading the Redstone Tea Leaves: CBS’s Moonves Is Toast
Henry Blodget | April 22, 2008 10:55 AM
Favored sons and daughters float into Viacom/CBS mogul Sumner Redstone’s life like sunshine after rain. Unfortunately, after a pleasant year or two, they usually get thrown right out again (including his actual sons and daughters).
A couple of quarters ago, Sumner was positively over the moon about CBS (CBS) CEO Les Moonves. But that was before CBS’s stock sucked wind for another six months, Moonves gave himself a $37 million raise, and Viacom (VIAB) CEO Philippe Dauman gradually eclipsed his rival to become the apple of Sumner’s eye.
The key sign Moonves’s days are numbered? Yesterday, Sumner killed Viacom’s deal with CBS’s Showtime, announcing that it would form its own pay channel.
What will happen next? If history repeats itself, Les Moonves will soon be unceremoniously canned—perhaps for not buying Facebook (a previous Sumner protege got axed for not buying MySpace). Sumner will smoosh Viacom and CBS back together, and Philippe Dauman, the latest heir apparent, will enjoy an unobstructed moment in the Sumner sun.
By this time next year, however, if Sumner hasn’t passed, Philippe himself will be done.
Ping!
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