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The King of Content Page 38

by Keach Hagey


  32. Just outside the frame: Masters, “Sumner Redstone Gal Pal Says She Got Nothing.”

  33. Phyllis had the evidence: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 310.

  34. Instantly, analysts began to fret: “Viacom Inc. Makes Announcement,” Business Wire, September 19, 1999.

  35. The statement was a bluff: Redstone v. National Amusements, Complaint, 7; Pope and Aeppel, “CBS Shake-Up Now Has to Play a Tough Crowd.”

  Chapter 14: The Hotshot

  1. Shari, who contributed: “CineBridge to Launch Hip, New Movie Venture in Los Angeles,” Business Wire, February 14, 2001.

  2. The posh theater wasn’t quite: Ibid.

  3. The previous year: Claudio H. Deutsch, “Now Playing: Invasion of the Multiplex,” New York Times, June 25, 1995.

  4. They didn’t just build more: Kevin Lally and Ed Kelleher, “Megaplex Mania,” Film Journal International, August 1, 1996.

  5. True to her word: “The Latest Coming Attraction: Movie House in East New York,” New York Times, April 12, 1997.

  6. Shari continued to build: Ed Kelleher, “National Amusements Is Home to Shari Redstone,” Film Journal International, December 1, 1995.

  7. “I got involved”: “Shari E. Redstone: Taking National into the 21st Century,” Film Journal International, November 1, 1996.

  8. began the company’s first push into South America: “Chile Showcase,” Film Journal International, September 1, 1998.

  9. By 1997, she had 360 screens: “Media Moguls Putting on Heirs,” Variety, April 14–20, 1997.

  10. From the time she joined: Dyan Machan, “Redstone Rising,” Forbes, May 13, 2002.

  11. By 1998, Shari was: “Location, Location, Location,” Film Journal International, April 1, 1998.

  12. All of the big guys: “Movie Theaters of the Absurd,” Forbes, March 2, 2001.

  13. From the moment the Viacom-CBS deal was announced: Pope and Peers, “Merging Moguls: Redstone, Karmazin Both Like to Be Boss; Now, They Must Share.”

  14. Karmazin’s idea: Ibid.

  15. A little over a year into: Geraldine Fabrikant and Seth Schiesel, “At Viacom, Rumors Persist of Tension at the Top,” New York Times, January 21, 2002.

  16. From the moment she got: Shlomo Schwartzberg, “National Amusements: The Next Generation,” BoxOffice, April 1, 1995.

  17. She even posed: “Showmandizer Promotion of the Month,” BoxOffice, June 1, 1996.

  18. Yet she was also: Machan, “Redstone Rising.”

  19. A month after the piece: Claudia Eller, “To Russia with Theaters (and Digital Sound),” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 2002.

  20. One month later, Sumner: “Redstone Divorce Granted,” PR Newswire, July 26, 2002.

  21. Ever since: Brent D. Redstone v. National Amusements, Inc., Complaint.

  22. As part of the settlement: Sumner M. Redstone National Amusements Trust Declaration of Trust, June 28, 2002.

  23. During Sumner’s lifetime: Term Sheet for proposed buyout of Shari Redstone’s stake in National Amusements, 2014.

  24. It got so bad that Viacom’s: Sallie Hofmeister, “Viacom’s Board Tells Top Executives to Work It Out,” Los Angeles Times, January 31, 2002.

  25. Like many people who: Bryan Burrough, “Sleeping with the Fishes,” Vanity Fair, December 2006.

  26. bringing her to his company-owned: “Another Woman for Sumner?” New York Post, July 27, 2000.

  27. After a nearly two-year: Geraldine Fabrikant, “More Than a Sumner Romance, But Not a 50–50 Marriage,” New York Times, August 25, 2002.

  28. Of course there was a prenup: Ibid.

  29. Sumner moved into: Burrough, “Sleeping with the Fishes.”

  30. In February 2004: Lloyd Vries, “Blockbuster Split,” Associated Press, February 10, 2004.

  31. But by 2004: “Midway Games: Viacom’s Redstone Adds to His Stake,” Bloomberg News/Chicago Tribune, March 4, 2004.

  32. Sumner, however, knew: John Crudele, “Redstone’s Portfolio Picks: Holds Major Stakes in WMS Industries & Midway Games,” New York Post, July 19, 2000; Laura Rich, “A Succession Plan. Well, Almost,” New York Times, June 20, 2004.

  33. So in March 2004: “Midway Plans Board Revamp; Redstone Acquires Majority Stake,” Chicago Tribune, May 12, 2004.

  34. Even Shari, whom he soon elevated: Jim Kirk, “Redstones’ Midway Strategy Thus Far Known Only to Them,” Chicago Tribune, June 27, 2004.

  35. “It was always my”: Geraldine Fabrikant, “A Younger Redstone Takes a Role at Viacom,” New York Times, May 10, 2004.

  36. Viacom missed its earnings: Joe Flint, “Final Cut: Karmazin Leaves Viacom Post, Ending a Story Marriage,” Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2004.

  37. By June 2004, the price had: David Lieberman and Michael McCarthy, “Ex-CBS Chief Chooses to Be No. 2 No More,” USA Today, June 2, 2004.

  38. He would later explain: Ibid.

  39. As long as Sumner: Flint, “Final Cut.”

  40. As chairman and CEO: Martin Peers, Joe Flint, and John Lippman, “Stability of Power Trio Is Critical to Viacom’s Future,” Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2002.

  41. Through it all, he maintained: Bill Carter, “And Now, Enter the Two Who Would Be One,” New York Times, June 2, 2004.

  42. A former actor: Christopher S. Stewart, “King of TV for Now, CBS Girds for Digital Battle,” Wall Street Journal, November 30, 2012.

  43. Sumner said he would break: Galloway, Leading Lady, 321.

  Chapter 15: “Sumner in a Skirt”

  1. Adam Redstone’s life was just beginning to turn around: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Edward Redstone.

  2. Eddie and Madeline were: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Madeline Redstone.

  3. When they began to suspect: Redstone v. Schuster, Depositions of Edward and Madeline Redstone.

  4. “We were inseparable”: Schuster v. Redstone, Deposition of Edward Redstone.

  5. When Ruth Ann died: Redstone v. Schuster, Complaint.

  6. On Thursday, May 27: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Madeline Redstone; interview with Madeline Redstone.

  7. By Sunday, the day of the funeral: “Redstone, Gabriel Adam,” New York Times, May 30, 2004.

  8. A month later, they filed: O’Connor v. Redstone, Amended Complaint.

  9. Two days later: Flint, “Final Cut.”

  10. The performance worked: Lieberman and McCarthy, “Ex-CBS Chief Chooses to Be No. 2 No More.”

  11. The problem was that: Geraldine Fabrikant, “Viacom Considers a Plan to Split into 2 Companies,” New York Times, March 17, 2005.

  12. He was joined by an army: Ibid.

  13. One analyst dubbed: John Higgins, “ViaSlow vs. ViaGrow,” Broadcasting & Cable, May 9, 2005.

  14. That meant that Simon & Schuster: Ibid.

  15. The same day the Viacom board voted: Sallie Hofmeister, “Viacom OK’s Plan to Split, but 1 Man Will Still Run the Show,” Los Angeles Times, June 15, 2005.

  16. Rumors swirled: Ibid.

  17. But by 2005: Carol Hymowitz and Joe Flint, “Shari Redstone Waits in Wings to Head Viacom,” Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2005.

  18. “Sooner or later”: Hofmeister, “Viacom OK’s Plan to Split, but 1 Man Will Still Run the Show.”

  19. It was at this moment: Hymowitz and Flint, “Shari Redstone Waits in Wings to Head Viacom.”

  20. In early 1999, a year before: Jim Cooper, “The Ghost in the Machine,” MediaWeek, April 17, 2000.

  21. With an eye toward: Joseph Gallivan, “MTVi Faces the Music,” New York Post, September 28, 2000.

  22. At the same moment: Julia Angwin, Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America (New York: Random House, 2009), 119.

  23. When Freston and Moonves held: Ibid.

  24. Freston, who had declared: Interview with Jason Hirschhorn.

  25. In early December: Angwin, Stealing MySpace, 119.

  26. Like pre-Redstone: Ibid., 99.

  27. Over a frantic two weeks in early July:
Ibid., 163–67.

  28. This time, Freston went to Sumner: Ibid., 170.

  29. By Thanksgiving of 2005: David Kirkpatrick, The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010), 159–60.

  30. Around midnight on December 8: Merissa Marr, Kate Kelly, and Kathryn Kranhold, “Hollywood Rewrite: Viacom Outbids GE to Buy DreamWorks,” Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2005.

  31. He had borrowed $425 million: Michael Hiltzik and Claudia Eller, “‘Kombat’ Split Redstones,” Chicago Tribune, August 5, 2007.

  32. In a document filed: National Amusements, Inc. Security and Exchange Commission 13D filing, December 28, 2005.

  33. Sumner abruptly stopped buying: Mike Hughlett, “Midway Shares on Steady Downfall,” Chicago Tribune, February 11, 2006.

  34. Out of the blue, Brent, armed: Brent D. Redstone v. National Amusements, Inc., Circuit Court of Maryland for Baltimore City, February 6, 2006, Complaint.

  35. Brent did not succeed: Robert Lenzner, “Redstone Blasts Daughter,” Forbes, July 20, 2007.

  Chapter 16: “This Is Crazy!”

  1. “It’s nothing to do with his”: Merissa Marr, “Sumner Redstone Gives Tom Cruise His Walking Papers,” Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2006.

  2. His first quarterly earnings: Matthew Karnitschnig and Brooks Barnes, “Viacom Split Offers No Panacea,” Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2006.

  3. By July, just six: Richard Greenfield, “How Viacom Lost Its Mojo,” Pali Research, July 10, 2006.

  4. As Hollywood’s best-sourced: Nikki Finke, “Who’s Crazier: Viacom or Tom Cruise?” Deadline Hollywood, August 22, 2006.

  5. Sumner would later claim: Burrough, “Sleeping with the Fishes.”

  6. An hour after: Matthew Karnitschnig, “Ouster of Viacom Chief Reflects Redstone’s Impatience for Results,” Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2006.

  7. Freston was busy: Burrough, “Sleeping with the Fishes.”

  8. When he got there: Sumner Redstone interview with Charlie Rose. Charlie Rose PBS, October 2006.

  9. Just six weeks earlier: Karnitschnig and Barnes, “Viacom Split Offers No Panacea.”

  10. “I have worked”: “Viacom Names Philippe Dauman President and CEO,” Business Wire, September 5, 2006.

  11. this final indignity: “Viacom’s Ex-Chief Getting $85 Million,” Bloomberg News, October 19, 2006.

  12. Sumner desperately missed: Cooper, “The Ghost in the Machine.”

  13. to reclaim them: Sumner Redstone interview with Charlie Rose.

  14. But the rise: Jonathan Levy and Anne Levin, “The Evolving Structure and Changing Boundaries of the U.S. Television Market in the Digital Era,” Federal Communications Commission, https://transition.fcc.gov/ownership/materials/newly-released/evolving060106.pdf.

  15. But Sumner’s digital beef: Sumner Redstone interview with Charlie Rose.

  16. In the wake of his firing: Patricia Sellers, “The Most Wanted Man on the Planet,” Fortune, February 6, 2009.

  17. At a previously scheduled: “Freston Flock Rips Redstone,” New York Post, October 26, 2006.

  18. Viacom’s stock dropped: Geraldine Fabrikant and Bill Carter, “Another Split at Viacom,” New York Times, September 6, 2006.

  19. Merrill Lynch analyst: Karnitschnig and Barnes, “Viacom Split Offers No Panacea.”

  20. Bruce Greenwald, a finance professor: Fabrikant and Carter, “Another Split at Viacom.”

  21. As he emerged: “Viacom Mob Gives Tom Freston a Touching Send-Off,” Gawker, September 7, 2006.

  22. Grey, as Freston’s hire: Merissa Marr, “Will Brad Grey Fade to Black at Paramount?” Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2006.

  23. Dauman and Dooley pledged: Johnnie I. Roberts, “Viacom Shuffle: Redstone’s Search for Youth,” Newsweek, September 18, 2006.

  24. By the summer: “YouTube Serves Up 100 Million Videos a Day Online,” Reuters, July 16, 2006.

  25. Despite the audience overlap: Andrew Ross Sorkin and Jeremy W. Peters, “Google to Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion,” New York Times, October 9, 2006.

  26. In the meantime, Viacom licensed: Kevin J. Delaney and Matthew Karnitschnig, “Media Titans Pressure YouTube over Copyrights,” Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2006.

  27. Caught up in his marriage: Lloyd Grove, “Sumner’s Discontent,” Portfolio, January 7, 2009.

  28. This time it was his nephew, Michael: O’Connor v. Redstone, Complaint.

  29. He wanted $4 billion: Julia Angwin, “Sumner Redstone’s Nephew Sues over Management of Family Trusts,” Wall Street Journal, November 21, 2006.

  30. Painting Michael as crazy: Michael Redstone’s death certificate, Office of the Boulder County Coroner.

  31. He earned his GED: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Michael Redstone.

  32. “My duties range”: Ibid.

  33. He and Shelley had wanted: Ibid.

  34. In the same lawsuit, Eddie: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Edward Redstone.

  35. During Eddie and Madeline’s: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Michael Redstone.

  36. According to Michael’s complaint: O’Connor v. Redstone, Complaint.

  37. As a result, he argued: Michael A. Hiltzik and Claudia Eller, “A Dynasty in Dysfunction,” Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2007.

  38. Seizing on these words: Peter J. Reilly, “Sumner Redstone Liable for Tax on Long Ago Gift,” Forbes, December 12, 2015.

  Chapter 17: “Good Governance”

  1. After Sumner, Freston, and Moonves: Matthew Karnitschnig, “Viacom Lawsuit on Executive Pay Can Go Forward,” Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2006.

  2. Shortly after Freston’s: “Viacom Cuts Chairman’s Pay in Half to $10.5m,” Calgary Herald, September 26, 2006.

  3. When CBS followed suit: Mike Barris, “CBS Links Redstone Pay to Shareholder Returns,” Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2007.

  4. In an interview with recently: “Conversations with Michael Eisner,” interview with Sumner Redstone, CNBC, October 19, 2006.

  5. In February, National Amusements bought another: Hiltzik and Eller, “‘Kombat’ Split Redstones.”

  6. “Unfortunately I have come”: Letter from Sumner Redstone to the Trustees of the Sumner M. Redstone National Amusements Trust, February 8, 2007, included in Sydney Holland’s cross-complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court, Sydney Holland v. Shari Redstone, Jeremy Jagiello, Joseph Octaviano, and Giovanni Paz, December 15, 2016.

  7. Meanwhile, the tensions: Steve Baily, “Redstone, Continued,” Boston Globe, April 27, 2007.

  8. On July 20, 2007: Robert Lenzner, “Redstone Blasts Daughter,” Forbes, July 20, 2007.

  9. In a dig: Claudia Eller, “Redstone’s Letter Takes Public Slap at Daughter,” Los Angeles Times, July 21, 2007.

  10. Dauman was once again: Tim Arango, “New Crack in the House of Redstone,” Fortune, July 19, 2007.

  11. By the end of the year: Wailin Wong, “Redstones’ Family Feud Cools Off,” Chicago Tribune, December 22, 2007.

  12. Unbeknownst to Viacom: Merissa Marr, “Redstone Rejects Viacom, CBS Sale,” Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2008.

  13. Sumner tried to get out in front: Merissa Marr, “Redstone Company in Talks over Debt after Sale of Shares,” Wall Street Journal, October 20, 2008.

  14. Sumner tried to calm them: Marr, “Redstone Rejects Viacom, CBS Sale.”

  15. Not surprisingly, Sumner came: Tim Arango, “Redstone Weighs Sale of Theaters,” New York Times, November 25, 2008.

  16. At the start of December: Merissa Marr, “Redstone Sells Control of Midway to Ease Debt,” Wall Street Journal, December 1, 2008.

  17. But the sale doomed: Wailin Wong, “Midway Games Faces Default,” Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2008.

  18. Two months after the sale: Lauren Pollock, “Midway Games Files for Chapter 11,” Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2009.

  19. Although Shari was leading the negotiations: Merissa Marr, “Redstones Move Closer to a Deal
with Creditors,” Wall Street Journal, December 19, 2008.

  20. The situation grew so tense: Ibid.

 

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