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Wanted: Viacom CEO - must be psychic and a crony
Posted on September 8, 2006 6:24 AM
Everyone knows Tom Freston. He turned MTV from a lightly regarded cable channel that showed music videos to a global entertainment powerhouse that hasn't shown a music video since Beavis compared Jon Bon Jovi's face and hairdo to Bridget Fonda's.
Sumner Redstone showed an impeccable sense of humor by summoning Tom to the Redstone fortress in Beverly Hills on Monday, Labor Day, and firing his ass. The problem, sez Blogging Stocks, was part falling stock price. No wait! said Variety, that's not why Sumner was hotter than a twice-baked lava sandwich...
Wall Street and Hollywood were equally bemused by the abrupt news despite signs of strain between the two men -- particularly Redstone's pique at losing MySpace to News Corp. He blames Freston for letting it slip away. "When Phil and Tom were at the company, no important deal ever got away from them," Redstone told Daily Variety.But wait, that's not all...
Some MTV insiders questioned Redstone's interpretation of the MySpace chronology. They recalled that Freston, 60, and his team were deep into the due-diligence process when they were blindsided by a bid from Rupert Murdoch. They say the Viacom board, including chairman Redstone, made the decision to back off. The board figured it was a losing proposition any way around to start a bidding war with Murdoch, who is known to pay stratospheric prices for assets he wants.And in six months when Sumner and Tom are telling the media how much they respect each other, remember what "trust me" means in Hollywood-speak. No, he didn't say "you go to Fuddruckers yourself!'
Technorati Tags: Fired, Viacom, Tom Freston, Sumner Redstone is scary old