 Gil Schwartz |
Gil Schwartz, long-time chief communications officer at CBS, is calling it quits Nov. 1 at the once “Tiffany Network,” which had been involved in a brutal legal squabble with majority stakeholder National Amusements Inc.
His departure follows the forced resignation of CBS CEO Les Moonves and the recruitment of Richard Parsons, an ally of NMI’s Shari Redstone, as interim chairman.
CBS, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing, will pay Schwartz $1.5M severance, which is equal to 1.5X his $1M base salary. He is in line for a pro-rated 2018 bonus of $1.5M that is payable from Jan. 1 to March 15 of next year and a "bonus severance" of $1.9M that will be paid through 2021.
Schwartz, in his memo to staffers, noted that he “had the option of stepping away early this past summer, but given the exigencies of corporate life at that juncture, I elected to stay in place for a while.”
In the CCO post since 2000, Schwartz joined CBS in 1996 as senior VP-corporate communications after a 14-year run at Westinghouse Broadcasting before its merger with CBS.
He's leaving with a “certain heaviness of heart” but with a “new and not unwelcome lightness in my step as well.”
Schwartz is a prolific author of books, including “100 Bullshit Jobs… And How to Get Them,” and “What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Means,” “Crazy Bosses” and “How to Relax Without Getting the Axe: A Survival Guide to the New Workplace,” that he wrote under pen name, “Stanley Bing."
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