Former VU CEO named Midway Chairman

One week after he made preparations to increase his stake in Midway Games from 72.4 to 80 percent ownership, Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone has further solidified his control over the company.

The venerable entrepreneur has named three new members to the company's board, including two close allies--Joseph Califano, a longtime Viacom board member, and Shari Redstone, his daughter and presumed successor. Redstone also appointed former VU Games CEO Kenneth Cron as Midway's new chairman. Cron replaces Neil Nicastro, who quit Midway 10 days ago and sold all his shares to Redstone.

Many industry watchers suspect that the appointments are part of Redstone's plan to take Midway private, perhaps as a precursor to folding it into Viacom. The man he has chosen to oversee the job actually does have some experience in the game sector. Before his tenure at VU, Cron was president of CMP Media, publishers of Game Developer magazine and a host of other computer-related publications, for nearly 20 years.