Gawker: philippe daumann

Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer Have Posses

John Cook — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:16:05 EDT

The suits have jumped into the Jim Cramer-Jon Stewart drudge match: NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker and Viacom CEO Philippe Daumann traded jabs today over their corporate assets at today's McGraw Hill Media Summit.

This morning, Zucker stuck up for Cramer, dismissing Stewart's critique as scapegoating and saying that "just because someone who mocks authority says something doesn't make it so."

Oh no he didn't! Daumann refused to let the insult stand, taking the stage to defend Stewart: "Jon Stewart is a great person and he's very smart and has a connection with the zeitgeist which makes him successful. It got so much attention because Jon Stewart was one of the few people on air that spoke to what people are thinking out there. He did a great job and we're proud to have to have him as part of our family."

Please, please let them settle this with fists. Zucker is rumored to keep a roll of quarters on hand at all times in case he needs to throw down.

Meet Microsoft's stooges for the Yahoo board

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:20:02 EDT

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang may finally be starting to ease into Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's bear hug. But just in case Yang goes suddenly frigid, Ballmer is ready to turn Microsoft's bid to acquire Yahoo from surly to hostile. TechCrunch reports Ballmer has a list of candidates for Yahoo's board ready to go. The stooges, below.

Edward H. Meyer, the former CEO of Grey Advertising, loves being retired, he told the New York Times last year.
I no longer have clients who demand that I be at certain places at certain times, so I'm much more in control of my time. To suddenly wake up one morning and say, 'I can plot this day pretty much as I wish to do it, and if I want to take an hour off, just walk around the city, I can. that's what's exhilarating.
John Chapple, the former CEO of Sprint Nextel subsidiary Nextel Partners, has watched his baby get swallowed up in one of tech's most destructive mergers.
Tom Freston, the former CEO of Viacom, lost his job when Sumner Redstone replaced him with Philippe Dauman, a stiff corporate lawyer best known for having a really cool son who works at Google.
Jaynie Studenmund was CEO of eHarmony. For two months.

Viacom Permalancers Revolt, Threaten To Bring In The Feds

Maggie — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:20:54 EST

Permalancer rebellion! We hear the indentured slaves over at MTV Networks are passing around a petition addressed to Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. In it, they threaten to go to the IRS over the recent elimination of their benefits. The deadline for Viacom's serfs to sign paperwork for the new system is Friday, which is a good excuse for them to get completely obliterated at tomorrow's MTVN holiday party at the Hammerstein Ballroom—a party that we hear cost the company a million bucks. (Doesn't that just fall in line with the new attitude of "efficiency" touted at yesterday's HR meeting with contractors!) We would just love to see a copy of this mutinous document.