A former media executive is parting ways with an old-school home after 30 years.
Ex-Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman has listed his 4-story, red-brick mansion on East 65th Street for $37 million. Dauman bought the seven-bedroom, Neo Federal property with his wife in 1995 for $5 million, which would be just over $10 million in 2025 dollars.
The residence, at 11,695 square feet, is a far cry from the sleek new builds that make up much of today’s luxury deals. The home features period mouldings, a curving staircase and black-and-white marble floors. The listing also advertises high ceilings and a fountained courtyard, along with several gas and woodburning fireplaces.
The mansion is the only property Dauman owns in New York under his own name. His son, Philippe Dauman Jr., bought a condo on East 23rd Street for $2.3 million in 2011, but sold it in 2016 for $3.1 million.
It was around that time that the elder Dauman was ousted from Viacom, the company where he had been CEO for 10 years. He had been targeted by controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone, the then-93-year-old billionaire, according to news reports from that period. Dauman sued, arguing that Redstone was mentally incompetent. But the Redstones were victorious in a settlement in 2016. Dauman lost his CEO position, chairmanship and board seat, though he did end up with $72 million in severance.
The saga paralyzed Viacom, which owned MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, among other entities. The company merged with CBS in 2019, creating ViacomCBS, now called Paramount Global. Redstone died in 2020.
Dauman’s wife, Deborah, has done her own real estate deals. In 2013 she sold off several lower-dollar co-op units in Queens with the highest sale price just north of $360,000, though it is not immediately clear when or how she acquired them. The two married in 1977, when Philippe was attending Columbia University School of Law.
