Philippe Dauman is the new CEO of Viacom

Viacom has announced that they are ousting Tom Freston as their chief executive officer. The move is surprising as market analysts believe that Chairman Sumner Redstone wants more control over the functioning of the company.

The news led to around a 5% fall in company’s stock price in the market. They have now named Philippe Dauman as the new CEO. In addition, the company has appointed Thomas Dooley to the newly created position of chief administrative officer.

Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen wrote on this development: “We think this move is likely to be regarded as an attempt by Mr. Redstone to reassert himself in an operating role, a development that is not likely to be warmly received in the investment community.”

Larry Haverty, a portfolio manager at Gamco Investors added: “Clearly, the reason for the change, the migration of the assets to the Internet was less satisfactory than Sumner or investors would have liked.”