Redstone feud reignites over media empire
The sequel to last summer's very public feud starring Sumner Redstone, chairman of entertainment conglomerate Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp., and his estranged daughter, Shari Redstone, opened yesterday.
The saga picks up right where it left off with the 85-year-old father and 54-year-old daughter fighting over who will take over the media empire. When asked in a TV interview if his daughter would succeed him, Sumner Redstone said: "No."
He went on to explain that it's not because "she isn't qualified." Rather, he wants the boards to choose his successor. "I feel that I have great executives at each company. I have great boards. The boards have been loyal to me. I trust them. And I feel they'll pick the right successor," Sumner Redstone said in a CNBC interview set to air last night.
Shari Redstone is vice chairman of CBS and Viacom and at one time was widely considered her father's heir apparent. She is also president of Dedham-based National Amusements, the parent company of CBS and Viacom. Sumner Redstone controls an 80 percent stake in National Amusements; his daughter owns the other 20 percent.
In the CNBC interview, Sumner Redstone also said that Shari Redstone is negotiating to buy the 1,500-screen National Amusements movie theater chain and that he would like that to happen in exchange for her stake.
Nancy Sterling, a spokeswoman for Shari Redstone, said in a statement, "Any suggestion that the parties have reached an agreement is false" and "any past discussions were by mutual agreement supposed to be confidential."
It's not the first such high-profile disagreement. Last summer, a dispute over succession, governance, and the future of the family's cinema chain went public when Sumner Redstone blasted his daughter in a letter to Forbes magazine. "It must be remembered that I gave to my children their stock," he wrote last July. "And it is I, with little or no contribution on their part, who built these great media companies with the help of the boards of both companies."
This time, despite his assertion that she won't succeed him, Sumner Redstone spoke more highly of his daughter, praising her for keeping the theater chain afloat the past 14 years.
"He loves his daughter and his family," Carl Folta, spokesman for Sumner Redstone, said yesterday after the release of the CNBC transcript. "And, in negotiating for her to acquire the theater circuit he is trying to accommodate her wishes. He continues to believe that his daughter has done a phenomenal job in running the theater circuit."
But Frederick Moran, a Stanford Group media analyst, said Sumner Redstone has been limiting his family's involvement in the companies and handed most of the daily responsibility to executives not related to him. CBS and Viacom control major media properties including MTV, BET, the Paramount movie studio, Showtime, and the CBS network.
"His role as the largest shareholder forces him to keep a business view of what it takes for his company to succeed and that's his main priority, even if it's at the expense of his family," Moran said.
Angel Jennings can be reached at ajennings@globe.com.
