Mogul built empire on drivein theaters
Sumner Redstone, the billionaire entrepreneur who saw business as combat and his advancing years as no obstacle in building a media empire that encompassed CBS and Viacom, died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 97.
His death was announced in a statement by National Amusements, the private theater chain company founded by his father. No cause was given.
Redstone had vowed never to give up the reins of his conglomerate, but in February 2016 he stepped away from managing it, and his daughter, Shari Redstone, with whom he had a contentious relationship, took control of daytoday affairs.
Beginning with a modest chain of drivein movie theaters, Redstone negotiated, sued and otherwise fought to amass holdings that over time included CBS, the Paramount film and television studios, the publisher Simon & Schuster, the video retail giant Blockbuster and a host of cable channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. At their peak, the businesses were worth more than $80 billion.
Toward the end of his life, he controlled about 80% of the voting stock in Viacom and CBS, presiding over both through National Amusements.
Redstone, who once taught law at the University of San Francisco, was a ripe 64 when he burst into the business limelight in 1987 by winning control of Viacom, a cable television operator at the time, from an investment group led by Viacom’s management. To acquire major companies, he frequently dueled with powerful, and much younger, entrepreneurs. In 1994, after a grueling struggle, he confounded Wall Street analysts by wresting Paramount from a heavily favored rival bidder, Barry Diller, who was almost 20 years his junior.
Well past 80, Redstone was running his businesses with little thought about retirement. One after another, associates who had been groomed to succeed him either resigned or were fired. In 1996, he dismissed his highly regarded chief executive, Frank Biondi Jr., and took the reins of Viacom himself. When critics suggested that at 72 he was too old for the top job, Redstone, at a news conference, compared himself to Bob Dole, the Republican candidate for president that year, who was the same age.
“If he can run America, believe me, I can run Viacom,” Redstone said.