philippe dauman
Paging Dr. Redstone: Viacom president Philippe …
6:00AM STV | Paging Dr. Redstone: Viacom president Philippe Dauman was optimistic Tuesday in Cannes, where he downplayed Sumner Redstone’s move this week to sell off $US233 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] More »
Trade Roundup: Viacom CEO Publicly Making Nice With Steven Spielberg
7:30AM Defamer Hollywood | 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] Russell Crowe has officially “committed” to take the role in Universal’s State of Play hastily vacated by Brad Pitt right before Thanksgiving. [Variety] More »
Getting To Know Philippe Dauman, Sumner Redstone’s Right-Hand Hatchman
4:30AM Defamer Hollywood | 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 hypnotised 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. More »
