Word: paleys
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...Anchorman Dan Rather got word of the outcome just as he was finishing up the network's Evening News on Wednesday. The flustered Rather announced that CBS Chairman Thomas Wyman, 56, was "out." More startling was Rather's disclosure that Wyman's duties would be temporarily shared by William Paley, the network's legendary founder, who retired three years ago, and Laurence Tisch, the billionaire chairman of Loews Corp., who joined the CBS board only last October...
...sudden transfer of power is sure to quiet some of the turmoil that has roiled CBS, but it raises new uncertainties about the future of one of the nation's most prestigious and influential companies. While a five-member management team searches for a permanent successor to Wyman, Paley will be acting chairman and Tisch will serve as chief executive. For the 84-year-old Paley, it is a triumphant return to a throne that he had never really wanted to relinquish. But clearly the man who has captured control of CBS is Tisch, 63. The shrewd investor and conglomerateur...
Whether the CBS shuffle actually amounts to a return to halcyon days of yore is debatable. The return of Paley provides a powerful symbol of continuity at the tradition-minded network. But Tisch, though a respected executive, has no experience in broadcasting. As equal partner in Manhattan- based Loews Corp. with his brother Preston Robert, Tisch controls holdings in hotels, tobacco and insurance worth an estimated $17.5 billion. His CBS appointment immediately raised the question of how he would balance the demands of public service and the bottom line. On that score Tisch offered quick words of reassurance...
...things Tisch wanted was the resignation of CBS News Division President Van Gordon Sauter, 51, a close ally of Wyman's who had drawn increasing criticism within CBS for eroding his division's cherished autonomy and injecting too much show biz into the news. According to one network insider, Paley and Tisch ousted Sauter without conferring with the board of directors' management committee, a move that irked members of that group. Tisch issued a memo to CBS employees, however, expressing his "complete confidence" in remaining top executives, ) including, at least implicitly, Gene Jankowski, 52, Sauter's boss and president...
Speculation over what Tisch might do if he were at the helm of CBS is swirling around the broadcast community. First to go, some contend, would be Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Wyman, brought in from Pillsbury in 1980 as CBS Founder William S. Paley's hand-picked successor. (Indeed, Wyman and other top executives are guaranteed lucrative severance packages if any single interest acquires more than 25% of CBS's voting stock.) Close behind, say insiders, could be Van Gordon Sauter, the president of CBS News, whom many have blamed for the stumbling performance of the Morning News...