Viacom Top Lawyer’s Fate Highly Uncertain After Months of Corporate Infighting
As one of the country’s top paid lawyers, Viacom general counsel Michael Fricklas has also been one of the entertainment industry’s most influential. But now he finds his own job hanging by a thread as Viacom works through a months-long legal battle with founder Sumner Redstone for control of the media giant, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
“A settlement between Viacom and Redstone’s National Amusements, resolving Dauman’s lawsuit, allows Fricklas to resign with ‘good reason’ if he’s not serving under [Philippe] Dauman or [Tom] Dooley, and insiders say it’s likely he’ll exit if Dooley does at the end of September when Dooley’s interim term is up and the board picks him or someone else to lead the company. But even if Dooley survives, it’s hardly certain that Fricklas will, too,” according to reporter Eriq Gardner.
“As the lawyer who also held a front-row seat to this drama, and one with a hand in most of the company’s most sensitive affairs for the past two decades, he also knows where the bones are buried. That’s a potentially strong pitch he could make to the Redstones in an effort to keep his job,” comments Gardner.
