Word: cbs
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...will these two media chieftains get along? Karmazin, who went to CBS when his Infinity Broadcasting was acquired by that company in 1996, has been known to depose long-standing corporate kings, while Redstone has a scalp collection any corporate warrior would be proud to own. Recent additions include those of his top lieutenants, deputy chairmen Philippe Dauman and Thomas Dooley, who got the blade (and a pile of money) as soon as the CBS deal was concluded...
...took Karmazin less than two years after arriving at CBS to replace CEO Jordan and move into his office suite. Karmazin's business strategy has been bluntly effective: pay top dollar for what he calls "oceanfront property"--prime stations in major markets, celebrities like Stern and Imus, the rights to the NFL--and then look to recoup the money by slashing administrative and staffing costs and running the tightest of ships...
...television viewers, the merger should result in an explosion of cross promotions. Don't be surprised to see plugs for NFL football on MTV or specials about upcoming Paramount pictures airing on CBS. Hollywood producers fret that corporate priorities could distort programming decisions. "This can stifle creativity," says Brad Grey, chairman of management firm Brillstein-Grey and producer of HBO's The Sopranos. "These large companies want to put their own shows on the air first and foremost...
Karmazin has no problem with the free flow of information in a democracy. In fact, he's all for a diversity of voices: CBS has long owned competing news-radio stations in the same markets. But in the modern American media world--Viacom's world--the free flow of information had better be accompanied by the free flow of cash...
...done now?" he asks rhetorically. "I can't see any deal on the horizon that approaches the implications for future growth at Viacom [that the] CBS [deal does]. But, of course, nothing is certain." That's the same basic message that Redstone, Viacom's CEO and controlling shareholder, delivered in the wake of his $10 billion acquisition of Paramount Communications in 1994--a stunning deal in its day, one that kept Redstone busy for the next four years selling pieces of Martin Davis' empire to pay down a heaping pile of debt. Last year, when I spoke with Redstone...