Paley's Purge

Losing by winning

It was a happy party at Manhattan's Four Seasons restaurant, an occasion for champagne and congratulatory speeches. The top brass of CBS, led by Founder and Chairman William Paley, 79, had gathered to cheer the TV net work's narrow victory over rival ABC and its return to the top of the prime-time ratings chart in the just concluded season.

John Backe, 47, whom Paley had appointed as president in 1976, shared the toasting duties with his boss and warmly hailed the CBS "team effort."

Last week, scarcely a fortnight after that celebration, Backe found himself tossed off the team, summarily fired by Paley in yet another one of the management upheavals that have practically be come traditional at CBS. It was not the first time that Paley had used his power as the largest single CBS stockholder (6%, now worth about $70 million) to spin the revolving door on a potential successor to the helm of the firm he effectively created 52 years ago. In October 1976, also without warning and also at a time of triumph, Paley sacked Backe's predecessor, Arthur Taylor, the self-confident financial expert Paley had hand-picked as president four years ear lier. Under Taylor, CBS profits had climbed to new rec ord levels. In the past decade, Paley had balked at turning over real authority to two other presidents, Frank Stanton and Charles Ireland.

Backe, who had headed the CBS Publishing Group before he became president, had won a reputation as a deft manager who, among other things, brought about a needed reorganization of the broadcasting division. Paley watchers had varying theories on what soured the boss on Backe. Some CBS insiders believe Paley had been considering replacing Backe for more than a year, because he felt Backe lacked the "vision" he wanted in a chief executive officer. Others saw a more visceral reason. "Paley only feels threatened when his president achieves something," says Anthony Hoffman, entertainment-industry analyst at the Bache Halsey Stuart Shields securities firm. "Whenever he gets the feeling that he is dispensable, he pulls the rug." Adds Michael Dann, a for mer CBS programming chief: "Paley operates his candy store exactly the same way he did back when CBS began in 1928.

The most dangerous thing Backe did was to appear as heir apparent. The only heir apparent to William Paley is William Paley."

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