Freston [left, shirted] with Iggy Pop

Viacom CEO Tom Freston is leaving Viacom, chairman Sumner Redstone announced this morning. Freston will be replaced by Phillipe Dauman, a member of the Viacom board.

"I have great respect for Tom Freston and want to personally thank him for his tremendous contributions to Viacom over the past 20 years," Redstone said in a statement. "Tom successfully built MTV Networks into an unmatched force in the entertainment industry and assembled a best-in-class operational team to build on that foundation. Tom has been a friend and a colleague for many years and we wish him well as he moves on to the next stage of his career."

As AdAge notes, Viacom stock price has fallen 20% since the company split from CBS in January.