• by Wayne Friedman , October 22, 2018

Due to health reasons, Richard Parsons has resigned immediately from his position as interim chairman of the board of CBS Corp., as well as his position as a board member of the company.

CBS board member Strauss Zelnick will take over as interim chairman. It was a unanimous decision made Sunday evening by the CBS board.

Parsons had been dealing with multiple myeloma. While serious, Parsons says his condition was manageable. Now, he says there have been some unanticipated complications, and his doctors advised cutting back on work commitments.

Zelnick, named as a board member of CBS last month, is currently chairman-CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software, a large interactive entertainment company.

Previously, Zelnick held senior executive management roles at BMG Entertainment; 20th Century Fox, in motion pictures and television programming, and at Columbia Pictures, working in international TV distribution. In 2001, he founded private-equity firm ZMC (Zelnick Media Capital.)

Parsons, who had chief executive positions at Time Warner and Citicorp, was appointed to the interim chairman role last month after Les Moonves resigned as chairman-CEO, CBS, due to sexual misconduct allegations.

He was also a new addition to the CBS board -- enlisted by Shari Redstone, president of National Amusements, the controlling shareholder of CBS.