What seems to be driving Shari Redstone is familial score-settling, a quest for victory over her father, who never wanted her to have a role in either Viacom or CBS. Of the companys 13 board members, eight contribute primarily to Democratic candidates and party committees. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. March 16, 2022. The case was eventually settled. << /Length 5 0 R /Filter /FlateDecode >> If youd like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. All rights reserved. You're using Internet Explorer, some features might not work. Its awesome. Moonves, on the other hand, supports his handpicked successor Joseph Ianniello. (Shari Redstone declined to comment, as did her attorney, Betsy Burnett, and her spokesperson, Sara Evans. The case, brought to [], Master, Boston University; Bachelor of Arts/Science, Tufts University. She just was a step behind in a lot of ways and treated poorly, this person continued. (One argument for the merger is that it would make CBS more global and would allow it to leverage Paramount, the movie studio, though these benefits would likely be outweighed by the drag of Viacom's cable channels.) When the moment arrived Tuesday, she was already sitting on the throne. The two reconciled in recent years as his health declined. Javascript recommended: FEC.gov uses Javascript to provide the best possible user experience. In the past six years, Mr. Redstone has given $50,000 to Democratic campaigns and party committees, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. The structure of the empire built by Mr. Redstone is complex but Ms. Redstone is at the top. Viacom has faced headwinds in the transforming media environment as Redstone worked to wrest control from former chairman Philippe Dauman and then to push through a merger with CBS. According to The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday,. In a statement on Wednesday, Ms. Redstone said, Through it all, we shared a great love for one another and he was a wonderful father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Standard Digital includes access to a wealth of global news, analysis and expert opinion. The changing economics have created a sense of urgency among major Hollywood studios to fortify themselves by bulking up. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. CBS independent board members filed suit to strip the Redstones of their voting control. One member of the Viacom board who has attracted considerable attention in recent months is Mr. Redstones daughter and possible successor, Shari. 2023 The New York Sun Company, LLC. He communicates partly through an iPad programmed with his voice with, reportedly, three responses: yes, no, and fuck you. After fighting off two of the most powerful men in Hollywood Mr Moonves and her own father . Theyve never gone against my wishes. In June 2014, Shari acknowledged this ongoing antipathy. commentary and analysis you can trust. Sumner Redstone has never been a particularly gracious husband, brother, or father to his two children. I am so proud to be his daughter and I will miss him always.. Vin Diesel goes off script. imagine this as a "let me see your hands " moment for the . The professor said he doesnt expect the directors to take formal action in connection with the flap, but he said he could not imagine they would ignore it. n0%f|U9l 7?j`l7"tiNf]?uhgM Z4i[&LY_x But in an e-mail to her children, she wrote that she would not sign the releases against the whores who will be grieving his loss . . Im not very happy right now, Judge Eric Davis told Fox News attorneys. Tuesdays agreement, he said, vindicates the strategy that shes had.. Herzer sued, claiming Redstone had lost his mental capacity. Receipts are reported periodically, according to the filer's reporting schedule. [23] In 2016, Redstone, who at the time was vice chairperson of CBS and Viacom and president of National Amusements (the controlling shareholder of CBS and Viacom), gave the following statement on succession: "my father's Trust states his intention that I succeed him as (non-executive) Chairman at CBS and Viacom, and also names me as a Trustee after his death." In February 2017, Shari Redstone, the 62-year-old billionaire heiress and controlling shareholder of CBS and Viacom, with a honking Boston accent and a fondness for the bouffant blowout, was at. President Trump yet again berated 60 Minutes for its coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic. Given how far she has already come in reversing her fathers desire to keep her away from the oversight of CBS and Viacom, Shari may be willing to sacrifice that demand in order to get Moonvess support. 8rdWT'eL~.u"A=9]>313X3-$e}u,gmg664$EzL*LZ_j_]Xy[?Xs N/]|msk_WfA2)oz-di2|mj|5ej8eE7[Q|IM%xf)|6\ k`. 6 0 obj She halted a plan to sell the storied Melrose Avenue movie studio, Paramount Pictures, and now she has corrected what she long considered a mistake her fathers separation of CBS and Viacom in 2006. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. It Was Business, It Was Personal: The Redstones Father-Daughter Feud, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/business/media/shari-redstone-sumner-redstone-viacomcbs.html. Most referred questions to a Viacom spokesman, Carl Folta. Key Points. Less than a quarter of the S&P 100 companies have a woman as their chair or a lead director, and that puts Shari in a notable position, said Dawn Belt, a partner and coauthor of Fenwick & Wests Gender Diversity Study. Redstone's father, Michael (Mickey), was a liquor wholesaler, nightclub owner . If my father wants me to drop dead he doesnt need to do anything else, she wrote in an e-mail to her three children, among others. [10], Since 1999, she has been president of National Amusements, one of the top ten movie exhibitors in the United States. So far, Sharis latest effort to force the merger of CBS and Viacomboth of which Sumner still controls through his voting shareshas cost the Redstone family some $600 million, and CBSs other shareholders another $6.5 billion, as the price of the networks stock has sunk from around $70 a share to around $50 as investors anticipate a deal. He refers to himself a "liberal Democrat . Tensions were so high that he offered her a $1-billion buyout, and she fumed to her son in 2015: Your grandfather says I will be chair over his dead body.. Explore current and historic federal campaign finance data on the new fec.gov. Ms. McGrath pointed to Ms. Redstones skill in assembling allies under pressure, adding, She was actually incredibly effective at pulling together a coalition of very smart people who were willing to challenge Sumner, who were basically betting their careers that shed be able to come out on top. Talks spanned months and culminated Tuesday with the all-stock deal that the two companies believe will be completed by the end of the year. At the height of the conflict when the patriarch was well into his 80s and still a Hollywood force Mr. Redstone tried to buy out his daughter and publicly stated that she was not qualified to lead National Amusements, the parent company of Viacom and CBS, which he had inherited from his father and built into a giant. She previously wrote for the Miami Herald and the Palm Beach Post. Sumner Redstone built his empire from a small regional chain of movie theaters. Her father, Sumner Redstone, once dismissed her publicly as a lightweight who contributed little to the business. In 2015, Vanity Fair published an article on Ms. Herzer and another of Mr. Redstones late-life paramours, Sidney Holland. During your trial you will have complete digital access to FT.com with everything in both of our Standard Digital and Premium Digital packages. Mr. Redstone, who died on Tuesday at 97, was an old-school, expletive-spraying mogul from a time when bosses asserted their power by screaming in the workplace. She refocused her attention on Advancit Capital, an investment firm she co-founded in 2011. . They shared an iron will that helped Ms. Redstone to succeed her father. Todd Williamson/Invision, via Associated Press. that brings together some of the most influential people in Hollywood to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the entertainment industry and to society as a whole. Its the story of a person who was mistreated by her father, said the source who recently noted Sumners physical condition, and has known the father and daughter for an extensive period of time. These committees may solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor organizations and others. All Rights Reserved. But even those may be a challengeaccording to someone who saw him recently, hes non compos mentis. (Sumners litigation attorney Rob Klieger, who just came from a visit with his client, told me he unequivocally dismisses as untrue this characterization.) Shari, meanwhile, has been pushing relentlessly to have the two companies reunited, despite the lack of a well-articulated industrial logic. The top three on the list are all Democratic donors. We support credit card, debit card and PayPal payments. But Shari Redstone has managed to hang on to her 20% stake in the family business. According to a court filing from Sumners former girlfriend Manuela Herzer, Brent Redstone has not spoken to his father since Sumner bought out his stake in National Amusements in 2006 for $250 million. Sumner Redstone, who built National Amusements into a media empire, died Tuesday at 97. Shari Redstone tried to nudge CBS to merge with Viacom, but CBS then-leader, Leslie Moonves, was worried that Viacom, which was grappling with a falling stock price and an exodus of viewers, would become a drag on CBS. Redstone, the daughter of media mogul Sumner Redstone, is chairwoman of media empire ViacomCBS. Shari Redstone - $5,400 in Political Contributions for 2016, Campaign Finance, Money, American politics, American political campaign contributions, presidential campaign contributions . Premium Digital includes access to our premier business column, Lex, as well as 15 curated newsletters covering key business themes with original, in-depth reporting. If she refused, he wrote, he would not allow her or her children to attend his funeral or in any way be involved in his burial arrangements. As The Wall Street Journal recently reported, Shari Redstone would like to ensure that Bakish will succeed Moonves, who is 68. Paramount Global said Friday that, pending court approval, it will receive $167.5 million in settlement of a suit by shareholders of the former CBS Corp. against some of the . She successfully facilitated the 2019 $12 billion merger deal between CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. She is the first woman to have such a large stake of a U.S. media business, controlling a $30 billion media empire. (Moonves has denied the allegations.) VIAC stock opens at about $40 today. [16], In 2010, Redstone and her partners purchased the theaters that they had built, and formed Rising Star Media,[17] of which she was chairman, and turned it into the country's top-grossing cinema chain. In 2020, Redstone was named on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world,[8] and in 2022, to Forbes' list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.[9]. [24], On February 4, 2016, against Shari Redstone's desires,[25][26][27] Viacom's board of directors named Philippe Dauman, already the CEO and president, the chairman, replacing Sumner Redstone. Washington, DC 20463, Federal Election Commission | United States of America. Shari Redstone 117 . [20] She was also a co-chairman of MovieTickets.com (before being sold to Fandango Media in 2017),[21] Inc. and is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO). Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. [29], In May 2020, she was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the Bucks County Retirement Fund and the International Union of Operating Engineers, over the perceived "destruction of value" caused by the CBS and Viacom merger. Redstone has approached current and former Fox News personalities about such a plan, sources say, and she has spoken with former NBC News host Megyn Kelly. Fox News mints money for owner Fox Corp. and the Murdoch family, estimated at north of $1 billion in profit annually. Redstone holds the remaining 20 percent of National Amusements through a separate trust. Redstone, the daughter of media mogul Sumner Redstone, is chairwoman of media empire ViacomCBS. By. Dana Bash will succeed him, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts calls Jeff Shell departure a tough moment. Shari Redstone net worth: Shari Redstone is an American media executive who has a net worth of $500 million. Paramount chief Shari Redstone attended alongside Neeraj Khelmani, Gayle King, Norah O'Donnell, Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson. But investors are unconvinced . But she was here, trying to fix these media platforms.. Shari Redstone Political Contributions in 2016. Learn how to enable Javascript in your browser. |iuRH4h?Z&Su}Yc_c^ |[x=fC#yP6)Y3O3$z.7YUD6F(rx+Kq2*XWJ.M|2>=Fur2` Sumner subsequently wrote one of his attorneys, Recent dealings with my daughter, Shari, have caused me to believe even more strongly that she does not have the requisite business judgment and abilities to serve as Chair of Viacom or CBS. Sumners two efforts to buy his daughters 20 percent stake in National Amusements, which she rejected, were, according to Herzers complaint, designed to permanently remove her from his business affairs and to prevent her from reversing his documented intentions that his media empire not fall into her hands after his death., Shari seemed to understand the extent of her fathers desire to keep her away from Viacom and CBS. Despite CBS News clout for the weekday broadcasts see Gayle Kings headline-generating March interview with disgraced musician R. Kelly the ratings for mainstays CBS This Morning and CBS Evening News lag behind the competition. His daughter, Shari Redstone, has effectively controlled Viacom and CBS for several years as Sumner Redstone has dealt with healthRead More She successfully facilitated the 2019 $12 billion merger deal between CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc.. << /Length 14 0 R /N 3 /Alternate /DeviceRGB /Filter /FlateDecode >> Shari E. Redstone joined the board of CBS in 2004. The feisty 61-year-old former attorney is stepping into the spotlight to exert her influence in the . Herzer and her legion of lawyers have now brought the same fanciful claims in probate court (twice), California state court, New York state court, and federal district court [in California], Klieger recently told the New York Post.