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Paging Dr. Redstone: Viacom president Philippe...

STV — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:40:08 EDT

Paging Dr. Redstone: Viacom president Philippe Dauman was optimistic Tuesday in Cannes, where he downplayed Sumner Redstone's move this week to sell off $233 million in stock to help pay down the company's debt. We guess it is better than last week's estimate of $400 million, but Dauman isn't letting numbers get in the way: "If you have a life-threatening crisis," he said, "there is no one on the planet you would more want to have by your side, helping you figure out how to get out of it, than Sumner Redstone." Oh, please, Philippe — we love Sumner, too, but everyone knows that nobody assuages A-list panic better than Werner Herzog. [Variety]

Viacom CEO Publicly Making Nice With Steven Spielberg

Mark — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:15:24 EST

· Hoping to heal the emotional damage he once inflicted upon national treasure Steven Spielberg by declaring the director's possible departure from his corporate family "completely immaterial," Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman offered a conciliatory flurry of hugs, kisses and a vigorous foot massage to the icon he once offended, calling him "one of the great filmmakers of our time and actually of all time," and promising that "We're going to proceed with calm, with deliberateness, and our entire objective is to focus on making him happy doing what he's doing. Whatever makes him happy and makes us happy will be the way it works out" as they continue to try and salvage their relationship. [Variety]
· The strike clock, as always, is ticking: if things aren't settled "in the next few weeks," pilot season—and the booze-drenched upfronts parties TV reporters so look forward to each year—could be lost. [THR]

· CBS's strike-enhanced winter lineups will include repeats of popular scripted shows, the premieres of new comedy The Captain and existing sitcom Old Christine and the first! ever! in-season installment of Big Brother. Meanwhile, NBC and Fox will ask viewers to choke on all the episodes of Law & Order and American Idol they can cram into their respective schedules. [Variety]
· Kelly Preston and Ron Eldard continue to toil in Hollywood's fifth circle of made-for-Lifetime-movie hell. [THR]
· Russell Crowe has officially "committed" to take the role in Universal's State of Play hastily vacated by Brad Pitt right before Thanksgiving. [Variety]

Getting To Know Philippe Dauman, Sumner Redstone's Right-Hand Hatchetman

Mark — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:44:05 EDT

Sunday's LAT provides the world with the fascinating backstory of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, the proudly uncool corporate kamikaze responsible for carrying out the public relations suicide missions Sumner Redstone dreams up while partially hypnotized by staring too intently at his collection of exotic fish, such as suing Google for copyright infringement, replacing a wildly popular executive, or blaspheming a Hollywood deity. But more impressive than the French-speaker's childhood language-acquisition skills (he learned English from Saturday morning cartoons!) and stunning promotion from kindergarten to Columbia Law School (there may have been a stop in college we're forgetting, but we don't have time to go back and double-check that part of the bio) is Dauman's uncanny ability to stay in the good graces of his notoriously prickly boss:

Dauman also is suspect because he holds the world record for getting along with Sumner M. Redstone, the crusty autocrat who built Viacom and looms Zeus-like from his hilltop mansion in Beverly Hills as executive chairman and lead shareholder of Viacom and its sister company, CBS Corp.

Cool or not, Dauman's 25-year relationship with Redstone, 84, is the key to his power at Viacom. It also increases the odds that he will be a force there after Redstone is gone.
Dauman once served as Redstone's personal lawyer and co-executor of his estate. He has been his strategist, secret agent, corporate troubleshooter, fellow board member and, now, top executive. With the circle around Redstone thinning because of ongoing conflict within his family, there may be no one closer to him than Dauman.

"He's very loyal, very hardworking, and suddenly, he's the last man standing," a New York media investor said.

Even as the "last man standing," the next couple of years will be crucial ones in determining Dauman's future in the Viacom empire. Once the matters of the Google lawsuit and Steven Spielberg's possible departure from the corporate family are finally settled, Redstone will decide whether to let his right-hand man drink of the ceremonial, jewel-encrusted chalice filled with his immortality-granting blood and rule with him for eternity, or to merely have his trusty CEO's brain transplanted into the skull of his favorite lap-cat, stroking him appreciatively until the natural end of the pet's life.

Viacom chief has clout, if not cool [LAT]
Previously: More Aftershocks From The Two Little Words That Shook Hollywood [Defamer]