Freston’s Gold Handshake

Ousted Viacom ex-CEO Tom Freston may have unceremoniously gotten the boot from former boss Sumner Redstone in September, but a regulatory filing by the company reveals the MTV co-founder was sent crying all the way to the bank.

Freston will receive a golden handshake from his former employer including severance payments of $58.9 million, a consultancy gig for which he’ll receive an addition $1 million a year, $7.4 million in deferred compensation payments and $5.7 million in a 401(k) retirement account, according to the filing.

Redstone blamed the company’s lagging stock price for forcing Freston’s ouster and said he hoped the new leadership team of longtime board member Philippe Dauman and Thomas Dooley would be more entrepreneurial.

Freston was a key architect of the runaway success of MTV, Viacom’s signature property, but his efforts to win over investors were seen as coming up short. CBS Corp., which split from Viacom at the beginning of the year, meanwhile, has seen its stock rise over the same period.