New CBS Record Chief

CBS Records Inc., a unit of Japan’s Sony Corp., has recruited entertainment manager Tommy Mottola to head its U.S. record operations. Mottola, 39, who has worked as a manager for entertainers Daryl Hall and John Oates, John Cougar Mellancamp and Carly Simon, was named president of the CBS Records division.

He replaces Alvin E. Teller, 44, who had headed the division since 1985. Last week, Teller said he was stepping down to explore “new challenges and opportunities.”

The announcement of Mottola’s selection was made by Walter Yetnikoff, president and chief executive of CBS Records Inc., which also includes an international records division and a direct-mail unit.

Sony acquired the CBS Records Group from CBS Inc. for $2 billion and continues to operate it under the CBS Records name.

Mottola will have overall responsibility for the direction of CBS Records labels in the United States, which include Columbia, Epic, Portrait and the CBS Associated Labels.

Mottola founded Champion Entertainment, an entertainment management concern based in New York, in 1974 and was its president. Champion and its roster of artists will continue intact in his absence, Mottola was quoted as saying.