Word: paleys
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...ideas -or at least some of them-are still alive at CBS. Just a week after he resigned as president, the corporation announced that it was going forward with one of his fondest projects: a new cable unit. "Cable is a new development," explained CBS Chairman William Paley, the man who showed Backe the way to the door marked EXIT. "And there is no reason in the world why we shouldn...
...aftershocks of Backe's surprise departure reverberated along Network Row in Manhattan, one thing became clear: Paley, 78, had been having doubts about his successor for some time. Backe was a fine administrator, Paley believes, but he did not have the vision needed by the head of CBS, which is not just a corporation in the chairman's view, but a company with a mission to educate. Many others believed the objections to Backe had a more personal foundation. Paley, who also got rid of Backe's predecessor, cannot tolerate the idea of anybody taking his place...
...Paley makes the decision seem simple. "An assessment was being made of the quality of top leadership, bearing in mind that we had a long and important future and that I was going to pull away in time," he explains. "It is something done by large corporations at all times. Mr. Backe heard about it and wanted to know what had been going on. When he was told, he took a very positive position. That led to a sort of showdown situation...
Translation: Backe got word that he was under scrutiny and demanded an explanation from Paley. The showdown situation turned into an executive shootout on the 35th floor of the CBS Building. Says one industry source: "It wasn't even gentlemanly. It was a real showdown...
Whatever was said, Backe demanded that the board of directors choose between him and the chairman. The board, almost all Paley people, announced its decision on May 8, the day Backe returned from an affiliates meeting in Los Angeles. "The result," Paley concludes, "was that Mr. Backe tendered his resignation...