Dauman Sells $17.8M Worth of Viacom Stock

Shortly after agreeing to step down, former Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman sold nearly half a million shares of Viacom stock.

According to a filing with the SEC, Dauman disposed of 200,000 Viacom B shares on Monday and another 227,046 shares on Tuesday at almost $42 a share. Total proceeds from the sales were $17.8 million.

Dauman continues to own more than a million shares of the media company’s shares. Viacom stock closed Wednesday at $41.34 cents a share, down 0.86%, making Dauman’s remaining holdings worth $41.4 million.

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For agreeing to give up his battle for control of Viacom against Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari Redstone, Dauman, one of the highest-paid CEOs in U.S. business, received a golden parachute worth at least $72 million.

As CEO, Dauman had Viacom buying back its own stock. Critics said Viacom would have been better off investing the money in digital businesses that could help Viacom survive the migration of its young audiences to digital forms of entertainment

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.