Word: sarnoff
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There are times, in the ratified world of corporation politics, when resignation can be painful but also profitable. Last November Robert Sarnoff, chairman of the RCA Corp. and son of its redoubtable longtime chief Brigadier General David Sarnoff, quit his $326,000-a-year post after the corporation's directors refused his request for a salary boost (TIME, Nov. 17, 1975). The event had all the earmarks of a boardroom putsch. Since 1971, when RCA absorbed a $490 million pretax loss in selling off the computer business that had been Bobby Sarnoff s brainchild, there had been widespread rumors...
Whether Bobby Sarnoff was pushed from the job or left on his own, the fact remains that his parting was more than sweet sorrow. TIME has learned that as of Jan. 1, 1976-the day after his resignation took effect-Sarnoff became a consultant to RCA at an annual retainer of $75,000. His new contract runs for ten years. The company's explanation is that Sarnoff s advice is needed by RCA on matters with which he is familiar "by reason of his former employment." The company's gesture seems to be a "golden handshake," a generous...
...adopted the multiple-management plan, mainly to prepare for the retirement of its chief, Harold Geneen; at present both Geneen and structure remain. RCA also established an office of the chairman last September, but abolished it and returned to a conventional organization when Chairman Robert W. Sarnoff resigned in November. Other firms that in recent years have experimented with executive offices of three or more officials are Honeywell, Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., Armco Steel and Associated Dry Goods...
...erratic earnings record under Sarnoff, and some investors were obviously pleased by his departure. The day after his resignation was announced, the company's stock rose 75? a share, to $19.25, in heavy New York Stock Exchange trading. In 1971, the company wrote off a $490 million pretax loss when it abandoned the unprofitable computer business that Sarnoff had caused it to enter. At the time there was speculation that he might be forced out by dissident directors, including Industrialist Martin Seretean-who has since left the board, though he remains RCA's largest stockholder. Sarnoff has also...
...Sarnoff, who still owns 79,338 shares of RCA common stock, has long lived in the shadow of the image of his innovative father, Brigadier General David Sarnoff, who pioneered radio broadcasting in the 1920s and color television in the 1950s. Robert Sarnoffs now-ended RCA career began in 1948 with the parent corporation's National Broadcasting Co. subsidiary. He became head of NBC in 1955 and was elevated to the presidency of RCA in 1966. Shortly after, he started RCA on an ambitious diversification effort. His main acquisitions: Hertz Corp., Random House Inc., Cushman & Wakefield Inc. (real estate...