Parsons Nominated to Join CBS Board of Directors

CBS has nominated former Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons to join its board of directors.

Shareholder will get a chance to vote on Parsons and the company’s other director at CBS’s annual meeting on May 18.

CBS has made a bid to acquire Viacom. CBS and Viacom are both controlled by the family of Sumner Redstone, but Viacom has balked at CBS’s initial offer, an all-stock bid that values Viacom below its current market value.

Parson, 70, is a co-founder and partner of Imagination Capital, a venture capital firm launched in 2017.

He was CEO of Time Warner from 2002 to 2007, remaining chairman of the media company until 2012.

After Time Warner, he served as interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Before Time Warner, Parsons was chairman and CEO of Dime Bancorp.

In CBS’s proxy statement sent to shareholders, the company said Parsons would bring to the board “significant leadership expertise from his roles at global financial and media companies.”

Directors of CBS receive at least $100,000 a year in cash compensation and stock worth $200,000. Parsons does not own a significant amount of CBS stock.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.