Richard Parsons has been named chairman of the CBS board on an interim foundation, changing Leslie Moonves, who stepped aside Sept. 9 after a number of accusations of sexual misconduct that the previous CEO has denied.
Parsons, the previous CEO of AOL Time Warner who orchestrated the unraveling of the ill-fated merger of Time Warner and AOL, was added to the CBS board of administrators in April when vice chairman Shari Redstone was pushing a merger of Viacom and CBS.
“We have a distinguished and unbiased board that’s steadfast in its dedication to serve the most effective pursuits of all shareholders,” Parsons mentioned Tuesday after being elevated to chairman.
“I believe I communicate for all board members after I say I stay up for studying extra about CBS’ compelling alternatives and the way we can assist information and help the corporate’s development,” he added.
CBS additionally mentioned Tuesday that Bruce Gordon, a former CEO of the NAACP, and William Cohen, a former U.S. protection secretary, will step down as administrators. Cohen and Gordon have been board members since 2006, when CBS cut up from Viacom to grow to be a stand-alone firm.
Beyond his quite a few roles at Time Warner, Parsons is a former CEO of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and a former CEO of Dime Bancorp. He additionally serves as a director of The Estee Lauder Companies, Lazard Ltd and The Madison Square Garden Co. and he is on the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Moonves was eliminated as CEO on Sept. 9 and former COO Joe Ianniello was promoted to interim CEO. Some insiders and Wall Street analysts have speculated that Parsons would finally be made everlasting CEO, then in about two years merge CBS into Viacom, with the mixed firm being run by Viacom CEO Robert Bakish whereas Parsons retires.
