- Bob Bakish, who was ousted as CEO of Paramount in last April, received $69.3 million as part of his severance compensation. The package was revealed in a Paramount filing disclosed by the SEC on Friday.
Bob Bakish, the chief executive who was ousted by Paramount in April 2024 in the midst of contentious takeover battle, was reportedly given $69.3 million in severance, new SEC filings show.
According to the agreement—signed April 29, 2024 but filed in an 8-K with the SEC on April 25—Bakish received $6.2 million in salary continuation, $24.8 million in bonus continuation, $10.36 million as a pro-rata bonus for 2024, $88,160 in insurance continuation, $25,000 in outplacement assistance, and $27.81 million in acceleration/continuation of equity awards.
His compensation for 2024 totaled $86.96 million. The year prior, he received $31.3 million.
Bakish climbed the ranks at Viacom starting in 1997, moving up from VP of planning and development to executive VP of operations in 2004 before eventually becoming CEO of the company in 2016. He continued on in his chief executive role even after Viacom merged with CBS to form ViacomCBS, now Paramount Global, in December 2019.
Bakish reportedly had a major falling out with Shari Redstone, chair of Paramount and CEO of the theater chain National Amusements. Shari, of course, is also the daughter of Sumner Redstone, the founder and chairman of Viacom and the chairman of CBS Corporation who died in 2020, just one year after CBS and Viacom merged. According to The Wall Street Journal, Bakish reportedly went behind Shari Redstone's back in floating a potential streaming deal with Comcast in early 2024, which Redstone had previously been against. The two had also reportedly fought over Bakish's handling of the sale of Paramount's Showtime division; Bakish had balked at several offers, including one of which that was close to $6 billion.
The backdrop for all of this, of course, was one of the most dramatic corporate takeover battles in recent memory, which included offers from David Ellison's Skydance Media and a $26 billion joint bid from Sony and private-equity giant Apollo Global Management.
After Bakish left the company, Paramount created a three-person "Office of the CEO." George Cheeks was named president and CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy became president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins was named president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.
