Viacom, Redstone's National Amusements Reportedly Resume Settlement Talks

(RTTNews) - Viacom Inc. (VIAB, VIA) and Sumner Redstone's National Amusements Inc. have resumed talks toward a settlement that would end their litigation, reshape the company's board and lead to the exit of Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive Philippe Dauman, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.

Under the terms being discussed, Viacom Chief Operating Officer Tom Dooley would succeed Dauman as CEO. While in earlier discussions, the idea was that he would serve in an interim capacity, it is unclear now whether there would be any timeline on his appointment.

The Journal reported that one major sticking point to a deal is that several Viacom directors are negotiating terms of their exit from the board—and some want to stay on for several months after a settlement is reached. Besides Dauman, the other board members who would be replaced are George Abrams, Blythe McGarvie, Frederic Salerno and William Schwartz.

In their place, National Amusements has said it would elect Kenneth Lerer, managing partner of a venture-capital fund and chairman of BuzzFeed; Thomas May, chairman of Eversource Energy ; Judith McHale, a former senior executive at Discovery Communications Inc. ; Ronald Nelson, chairman of Avis Budget Group Inc. ; and Nicole Seligman, a former president of Sony Entertainment.

A settlement would end a bruising legal battle between National Amusements, the holding company through which Mr. Redstone controls Viacom and CBS Corp. , and Viacom's management and board.