The former president of MTV parent company Viacom, Mel Karmazin, who quit last month, reportedly after various run ins with Viacom chairman and majority shareholder Sumner Redstone, received a departing pay off of $19 million. The pay off figure was revealed in the company's second quarter financial report, released last week. Karamazin secured the high severance package because of a carefully crafted contract with Viacom, of which one compensation expert said to the Washington Post: "This isn't an employment contract, it's a treaty between two sovereign powers".
Despite the big pay out, Viacom announced its profits were up 14% fuelled by a boom in the advertising industry. Such a good financial performance might have fuelled speculation that Viacom might now look to acquire ITV, something Karmazin implied was of interest to Viacom after the British Government changed media ownership regularising last year. However, on announcing the latest financial results, Redstone said that, following his recent purchase of the Viva music channels in Germany, no more acquisitions were on the cards: "Our focus is not on big deals. I repeat, no big acquisitions".