Viacom Inc. (VIA-B) let chief executive Tom Freston go after only eight months due to slumping stock prices. Company executive chairman Sumner M. Redstone stated that he and Freston will remain friends but that Wall Street seemed to have lost confidence in the Viacom head.
As quoted from the WashingtonPost.com, "The board felt that not enough was being done, we were not moving ahead as entrepreneurially and aggressively as we should, that communication with Wall Street had been deficient, and the stock price reflected that," Redstone said.
Viacom's stock price has been declining since the split, dropping from more than $40 per share in January to close yesterday at $34.97, down $1.99 on news of Freston's departure. Over the same period, CBS's share price has climbed from just over $26 per share to close yesterday at $28.60, down 26 cents.
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