Word: wyman
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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...
Tisch had been dissatisfied with Wyman's performance for months, but the new chief executive did not win the support of a majority of the CBS board until last week. In fact, when the marathon board meeting began at 9 a.m., most of the directors apparently had no intention of firing their chairman. The turning point came when Wyman, the sole CBS executive with a board seat, announced he had secretly begun negotiations that could lead to the sale of the $5 billion company to Coca-Cola. The stunned directors, all of whom were determined to keep CBS independent, asked...
...Word of Wyman's departure quickly spread to a party on Manhattan's East Side. A nebula of CBS and other journalism luminaries had gathered on the day of the board meeting at the Park Avenue apartment of Designer Mollie Parnis to fete 60 Minutes Host Mike Wallace and his bride of 2 1/2 months, Mary Yates. The already festive mood brightened considerably as an old Wallace friend telephoned over the news. There is little love lost for Wyman in CBS journalism circles, where the ex-chairman's decisions have been a target for strident criticism. Partygoers vied to congratulate...
Others defend the performance of CBS's management team. "Wyman is doing what's necessary," says Edward Atorino, media analyst for Smith Barney. "He's taking the heat for doing exactly what (Capital Cities Chairman) Tom Murphy has been doing at ABC and getting a lot of applause for." Wyman, meanwhile, admits that the turmoil at CBS has been distracting. Other companies can deal with their problems in relative private, he says, but in network TV it "turns into a soap opera." And a darn good...