- Bob Bakish, who was ousted as CEO of Paramount in final April, obtained $69.3 million as a part of his severance compensation. The bundle was revealed in a Paramount submitting disclosed by the SEC on Friday.
Bob Bakish, the chief government who was ousted by Paramount in April 2024 within the midst of contentious takeover battle, was reportedly given $69.3 million in severance, new SEC filings present.
In response to the settlement—signed April 29, 2024 however filed in an 8-Ok with the SEC on April 25—Bakish obtained $6.2 million in wage continuation, $24.8 million in bonus continuation, $10.36 million as a pro-rata bonus for 2024, $88,160 in insurance coverage continuation, $25,000 in outplacement help, and $27.81 million in acceleration/continuation of fairness awards.
His compensation for 2024 totaled $86.96 million. The 12 months prior, he obtained $31.3 million.
Bakish climbed the ranks at Viacom beginning in 1997, shifting up from VP of planning and improvement to government VP of operations in 2004 earlier than ultimately changing into CEO of the corporate in 2016. He continued on in his chief government function even after Viacom merged with CBS to kind ViacomCBS, now Paramount International, in December 2019.
Bakish reportedly had a serious falling out with Shari Redstone, chair of Paramount and CEO of the theater chain Nationwide Amusements. Shari, in fact, can also be the daughter of Sumner Redstone, the founder and chairman of Viacom and the chairman of CBS Company who died in 2020, only one 12 months after CBS and Viacom merged. In response to The Wall Avenue Journal, Bakish reportedly went behind Shari Redstone’s again in floating a possible streaming take care of Comcast in early 2024, which Redstone had beforehand been in opposition to. The 2 had additionally reportedly fought over Bakish’s dealing with of the sale of Paramount’s Showtime division; Bakish had balked at a number of presents, together with one in every of which that was near $6 billion.
The backdrop for all of this, in fact, was probably the most dramatic company takeover battles in latest reminiscence, which included presents from David Ellison’s Skydance Media and a $26 billion joint bid from Sony and private-equity large Apollo International Administration.
After Bakish left the corporate, Paramount created a three-person “Office of the CEO.” George Cheeks was named president and CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy turned president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Leisure Studios and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins was named president and CEO of Paramount Footage and Nickelodeon.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
