Bressler leaving Viacom
Citing a need to let new Co-Presidents Les Moonves and Tom Freston pick their own executive team, Richard Bressler announced that he is leaving Viacom as CFO once a successor is in place. His current contract runs through March 2006. Although not a protégé of Mel Karmazin, Bressler joined Viacom from AOL Time Warner in March 2001, during the Karmazin era at Viacom.
Meredith ups dividend
Meredith Corp. shareholders will see a little something extra in their next dividend check. The company's board of directors has upped the quarterly payout by two cents per share to 14 cents. The higher dividend will be paid March 15th to shareholders of record on February 28th. The board also voted to up the company's stock buyback program, authorizing the repurchase of an additional two million shares.
Payless ShoeSource narrows review to six
Payless ShoeSource has narrowed to six agencies a review for the North American creative duties on the account of its flagship Payless ShoeSource footwear chain, says the NY Times. Those duties had been handled since 1999 by Barkley Evergreen & Partners Kansas City, which resigned by declining to take part in the review when it began last month. Spending is estimated at 60 million. The six contenders include Cramer-Krasselt Chicago; two NY units of the Publicis Groupe, the Kaplan Thaler Group and Saatchi & Saatchi; and three Omnicom Group agencies, the Chicago office of BBDO Worldwide; Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco; and Martin/Williams Advertising in Minneapolis. A decision is expected in April.
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