Execs 'n Excess

Viacom execs at top in media pay - chicagotribune.com: "Even in the most rarefied echelons of executive compensation, media mogul Sumner Redstone and his top lieutenants are in a league of their own.

Philippe Dauman, chief executive of Viacom Inc., last year earned the distinction of drawing the largest compensation package in corporate America: $84.5 million. That was a 149% jump from the previous year, lifted by a one-time stock and options award totaling $54.4 million, which came courtesy of signing a new five-year employment agreement to run the company that boasts such prominent cable TV channels as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central and Hollywood movie studio Paramount Pictures.

Dauman's second-in-command, Thomas E. Dooley, received $64.7 million. His take, also boosted by a nearly $41 million one-time stock and options bonus tied to the signing of a new contract and added responsibilities, represented a 139% increase from his 2009 pay. The Viacom chief operating officer's compensation was even six times higher than for a typical CEO in the U.S."