Speaking in the very same Gotham hotel where he asserted that a DreamWorks exit would have "no material impact" on Viacom's balance sheet, the conglom's chief exec, Philippe Dauman, changed his tune Monday.

"We are very happy to have one of the great filmmakers of our time and actually of all time with us," Dauman said at the 35th annual UBS Global Media Week & Communications Conference. He meant DreamWorks principal Steven Spielberg, whom Jeffrey Katzenberg defended in September after Dauman's comments, with Katzenberg proclaiming the filmmaker a "national treasure" and criticizing Dauman's cold shoulder as "ill-advised."

"Steven and I have a good personal relationship. I've been spending time with him and enjoy him," Dauman told investors. "We're going to proceed with calm, with deliberateness, and our entire objective is to focus on making him happy doing what he's doing. Whatever makes him happy and makes us happy will be the way it works out."

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