The decline of the health of Sumner Redstone has a been a hot topic in the news due to his control of CBS and Viacom, two of the largest players in mass media. However, the aging billionaire recently began to pullback from his leadership roles with his resignation as chairman of the board of CBS. Now a full on battle for succession to lead the media empire has emerged between his daughter Shari, Les Moonves the CEO of CBS, and Philippe Dauman the CEO of Viacom. But this battle comes at a crucial moment as the landscape of the entertainment industry has rapidly changed as television ad revenues declines and more individuals opt for cable cutting which has sliced into the profit margins of many cable networks. In the end, the fight for primacy will come down to the choice of the trustees of National Amusements, which include Shari and Dauman, the holding company that controls the majority of shares of both Viacom and CBS. Only time will tell which party emerges as the dominant force in the Redstone empire and reveal if the eventual successor is able to navigate the treacherous waters of the modern media.
See Matthew Garrahan & Shannon Bond, Succession battle engulfs Sumner Redstone’s media empire, Financial Times, February 4, 2016.
Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
