Bob Bakish will make a base salary of at least $5.25 million annually for his dual role of acting president and CEO of Viacom and permanent president and CEO of Viacom Global Entertainment Group, known as GEG, the company said Tuesday in a regulatory filing.
Viacom recently created GEG and put Bakish in charge. It consists of Viacom’s international businesses along with Viacom Music and Entertainment Group, TV Land and CMT. Bakish will make a base salary of $2.75 million for running GEG, and the contract for his newly created job runs through Oct. 30, 2019.
Bakish also gets grants with a target value of $3.25 million annually and a cash bonus of $3.5 million each year for running GEG.
Simultaneously to his GEG compensation, Bakish will make a base salary of $2.5 million a year as acting president and CEO of the entirety of Viacom, or $500,000 per month of service, whichever is greater.
Bakish officially takes over as acting president and CEO of Viacom, succeeding Thomas Dooley, on Nov. 15. He’ll serve in that role until the board of directors elects a permanent replacement, or until “the closing of any business transaction between Viacom and CBS Corp.,” according to Tuesday’s filing.
Viacom and CBS have been discussing the possibility of a merger since a power struggle pitting Sumner Redstone and daughter Shari, the chairman emeritus and vice chair, respectively, against former CEO Philippe Dauman ended in August with the ouster of the latter.
