Redstone succeeded and Viacom's then-chief executive Philippe Dauman left the the company. CBS called Redstone's actions with regard to Viacom "a corporate coup." National Amusements doesn't own much equity in the two firms, but it holds 80 percent of the voting rights in CBS and Viacom, which were once part of the same company but were separated in 2006 in an effort to increase the value of each company. Since then, CBS has benefitted from big fees paid by cable operators for the right to distribute broadcast networks.