Sumner Redstone paid $8.6 mn from Viacom in 2006

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
Media conglomerate Viacom paid its executive chairman and mogul Sumner Redstone about $8.6 million in salary, bonus and other compensation in 2006, after it split apart from broadcaster CBS Corp., according to a regulatory filing, media reports said.

The New York-based company, which owns the MTV and Nickelodeon cable networks, split from CBS in early 2006 in a deal meant to attract different classes of shareholders. Redstone, who turns 84 this year, also drew a salary and other benefits from CBS, of which he is also executive chairman. He was paid $10.4 million in salary, bonus, and other gains in 2006, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier in April.

Combining the two salaries, Redstone' compensation rose 46 percent in 2006 to about $19 million, from $13 million in 2005 when the two companies existed under the Viacom umbrella. Philippe Dauman, who joined Viacom as chief executive last year, was paid $24.8 million in salary, bonus and other compensation, much of it through stock grants. Excluding stock and grants, Dauman's salary and bonus was $2.69 million.