Shari Redstone, daughter of 93-year-old media mogul Sumner Redstone, is considering re-combining Viacom Inc. with CBS Corp.,
Bloomberg reported,
citing unnamed sources. Shari Redstone is the vice chair of both companies.
In August, the Redstone family settled a legal dispute with former Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman and board member George Abrams that will result in Dauman's exit from the company. “The closing of that sideshow was one of the steps Shari Redstone needed to ensure she could direct the future of her father's holdings before and after his death,” the Bloomberg article said.
Carl Folta, who had been Viacom's head of corporate communications, recently left the company, according to Bloomberg.
Leslie Moonves, the CEO of CBS, is on good terms with the Redstones and “would be the natural pick to run the combined company,” the Bloomberg report noted. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Paul Sweeney said that Moonves' main strength is in programming, an area in which Viacom needs improvement.
Meanwhile, Shari's niece Keryn Redstone, has dropped her opposition to the court settlement that ends the battle with Dauman and Abrams for control of Viacom. Dauman and Abrams had claimed Sumner Redstone lacked the capacity to make business decisions.
A
New York Times
article said
Sumner has agreed to meet in person with Keryn as “part of a broader resolution that includes clarifying her role as an equal beneficiary of the trust that will control Mr. Redstone's companies after he dies or is declared incompetent.”
Keryn Redstone also filed a legal petition claiming she had been disinherited of $6 million from her grandfather's personal trust and potentially $1 billion more from a National Amusements trust through which the family controls Viacom and CBS. The two sides agreed to mediate the dispute over the $6 million, the
Times
article said. (Sources: Bloomberg, Aug. 29, 2016;
New York Times
, Aug. 26, 2016.)
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