Sumner Murray Redstone is an American businessman and is a media magnate.
He is the majority owner and Chairman of the Board of the National Amusements theater chain.
Through National Amusements, Sumner Redstone and his family are majority owners of CBS
Corporation and Viacom, and are equal partners in MovieTickets.com.
According to Forbes as of March 2014 he is worth US $6.2 billion.
Early life and education Sumner was born to a Jewish family in Boston,
Massachusetts, to Belle and Michael Rothstein.
In 1940, his father changed the family surname from "Rothstein" to "Redstone".
Michael Rothstein owned Northeast Theater Corporation in Dedham, Massachusetts—the
forerunner of National Amusements—and the Boston branch of the Latin Quarter Nightclub.
Redstone attended the Boston Latin School, from which he graduated first in his class.
In 1944, he graduated from Harvard College, where he completed the studies for his baccalaureate
in three years.
Later, Redstone served as First Lieutenant in the United States Army during World War
II with a team that decoded Japanese messages.
After this military service, he worked in Washington, D.C., and attended Georgetown
University Law School.
He transferred to Harvard Law School and received his LL.B. in 1947.
After completing law school, Redstone served as special assistant to U.S. Attorney General
Tom C. Clark and then worked for the United States Department of Justice Tax Division
in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, and thereafter entered private practice.
In 1954, he joined his father's theater chain, National Amusements and in 1967, he became
CEO of the company.
As the company grew, Redstone came to believe that content would become more important than
distribution mechanisms: channels of distribution would always exist, but content would always
be essential.
He invested in Columbia Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Orion Pictures, and Paramount
Pictures, all of which turned over huge profits when he chose to sell their stock in the early
1980s.
In 1979, he suffered severe burns in a fire at the Copley Plaza hotel, in Boston, but
survived after thirty hours extensive surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Though he was warned that he might never be able to live a normal life, eight years later
he was fit enough to insist on playing tennis nearly every day and to launch a hostile takeover
of Viacom.
Career Viacom
Looking for a new business venture, he set his sights on Viacom International, a company
which he had already been buying stock in as an investment and was a spin-off of CBS
in 1971 after the FCC ruled that television networks could not syndicate programs following
their network run.
Viacom syndicated most of CBS's in-house productions, but also made a lot of money from syndicating
other programs, including most of Carsey-Werner Productions' shows, as well as syndicating
shows for other companies, and cable channels were two examples).
Viacom also owned MTV Networks, which owned MTV and Nickelodeon.
In addition, other properties included Showtime Networks and The Movie Channel.
Viacom acquired MTV Networks in 1985 for $550 million from Steve Ross' Warner Communications.
After a four month hostile takeover in 1987, Redstone won voting control of Viacom and
led a series of acquisitions to make Viacom one of the top players in modern media along
with Bertelsmann, News Corporation, Time Warner, Sony, Disney, and NBC Universal.
Paramount Pictures Redstone's next acquisition was the purchase
of Paramount Communications, parent of Paramount Pictures in 1993.
He engaged in a bidding war with Barry Diller and John Malone, and had to raise his bid
three times.
Some say that Redstone overpaid, but after he shed certain assets — the Madison Square
Garden properties to Charles Dolan's Cablevision and Simon & Schuster's educational publishing
units to Pearson PLC — for almost $4 billion, Redstone turned Viacom's expenditure into
a substantial profit.
Under Redstone's leadership, Paramount went on an almost ten-year streak of record performance,
producing such films as Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, Braveheart, and Forrest Gump and
the creation of the hugely successful Mission: Impossible series of pictures.
Redstone replaced the team of Jonathan Dolgen and Sherry Lansing in 2004 after their nine-year
winning streak ended.
Along with the strong slate of films they oversaw, Dolgen and Lansing’s accomplishments
included: doubling the size of Paramount's music publishing division, Famous Music; expanding
UCI Cinemas into 13 foreign countries; creating the Digital Cinema Initiatives standards body
for the new digital film technology; introducing the DVD; and launching the UPN Network.
The current Paramount Pictures consists only of the movie studio, the other groups having
been sold or parceled out to other divisions.
Since arriving at Paramount in 2005, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brad Grey has
led a return to fortune at the box office.
He has overseen the creation or revitalization of several major franchises, including Transformers,
Star Trek and Paranormal Activity.
Paramount has also forged productive relationships with top-tier filmmakers and talent including
J.J.
Abrams, Michael Bay and Martin Scorsese.
The 2010 Paramount slate achieved much success with Shutter Island and a True Grit remake,
reaching the biggest box office totals in the storied careers of Martin Scorsese and
the Coen Brothers, respectively.
In addition, during Grey’s tenure, Paramount launched its own worldwide releasing arm,
Paramount Pictures International, and has released acclaimed films such as An Inconvenient
Truth, Up in the Air, and There Will Be Blood.
The Paramount acquisition was only the tip of the iceberg.
He purchased Blockbuster Entertainment, which included Aaron Spelling's production company
and a huge library of films, much of which has been merged into Paramount Pictures.
Blockbuster has now been spun off into its own independent entity.
Redstone acquired CBS Corporation in 2000 and then spun it off as a separate company
in 2005, taking with it all of Paramount's television shows and catalog.
Following the CBS and Blockbuster Spinoffs, Viacom consists of MTV Networks, music publishing
and Paramount Pictures.
In December 2005, Redstone announced that Paramount had agreed to buy DreamWorks SKG
for an estimated $1.6 billion.
The acquisition was completed on February 1, 2006.
A subsequent financing brought Viacom's investment down to $700 million.
The animation studio, DreamWorks Animation, was not included in the deal as it has been
its own company since late 2004.
However, Paramount now has the rights to distribute films by DreamWorks Animation.
On June 1, 2012, Paramount Pictures renamed the Administration Building on the studio
lot the Sumner Redstone Building in a dedication ceremony attended by employees of Paramount
Pictures and Viacom.
CBS One of Redstone's largest acquisitions came
in the form of Viacom's former parent, CBS.
Former Viacom President and COO Mel Karmazin proposed a merger to Redstone on favorable
terms and after the merger completed in 2000, Viacom had some of the most diversified businesses
imaginable.
Viacom had assets in the form of broadcast networks, cable television networks, pay television,
radio, outdoor advertising, motion pictures, and television production, and King World
Productions, among others.
After CBS and Viacom split in late 2005, Redstone remained chairman of both companies.
Succession Redstone's trusts make it clear that his daughter,
Shari Redstone, is set to assume his role upon his death.
However, a November 22, 2006, New York Times article indicated that Redstone was reconsidering
his daughter's role.
In 2007, they feuded publicly over issues of corporate governance and the future of
the cinema chain.
Documents have recently been made public which verify that, as part of a settlement from
Sumner's first divorce, all of Sumner's stock is in irrevocable trusts that will be left
for his grandchildren.
On March 1, 2010, Sumner publicly announced that all of his stock will be left for his
grandchildren.
Redstone made arrangements to step down as CEO of Viacom in 2006.
After Mel Karmazin resigned in 2004, two heirs apparent were named: Co-President and Co-COO
Leslie Moonves and Co-President and Co-COO Tom Freston.
Since the Viacom split, Moonves has headed CBS, and Freston had headed the new Viacom,
Inc.
When Moonves was promoted to Co-President and Co-COO with Tom Freston, there was speculation
that he was on the short list of executives to replace Michael Eisner at the Walt Disney
Company whose contract expired in 2006.
Redstone has confirmed publicly in Vanity Fair that he originally offered the position
only to Freston who initially turned it down and later relented when Redstone made it clear
he was going to ask Moonves next.
On September 5, 2006, Redstone removed Tom Freston as President and CEO of Viacom and
replaced him with director and former Viacom counsel Philippe Dauman.
He also brought back former CFO Tom Dooley.
This was surprising to many, as Freston had been seen by many as Redstone's heir apparent
and that Redstone touted that Freston would run the company after he retired.
Redstone publicly stated that he let Freston go because of Viacom's lack of aggressiveness
in the digital/online arena, lack of contact with investors, and a lackluster upfront at
MTV Networks.
The company split was approved by the Viacom board on June 14, 2005.
Holdings Currently, Redstone owns over seventy percent
of the voting interest of Viacom.
Viacom and CBS Corporation are both controlled by Redstone through National Amusements.
Redstone sold his holdings of Midway Games, of over 89%, in December 2008.
Books Redstone's autobiography, A Passion To Win,
was published in 2001 by Viacom's Simon & Schuster.
This book details everything from Redstone's life as a young boy in Boston to the difficult
takeover of Viacom and the problems he overcame in purchasing and managing both Blockbuster
Video and Paramount Pictures.
The book also recounts the legendary CBS merger.
Viacom's broadcasting properties at the time of A Passion To Win's release included several
radio stations and two TV stations: WBZ CBS 4, which had just become a CBS O&O through
a merger with Westinghouse four years before Viacom and CBS merged, and WSBK UPN 38 in
Redstone's hometown, Boston.
Political views A longtime Democratic supporter, with a history
of donating to many Democratic campaigns, including regular donations to the late Ted
Kennedy, John Kerry, and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Redstone endorsed Republican
George W. Bush over Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election, allegedly because he argued that
Bush would be better for his company and the economy.
Despite this public endorsement, he donated money to Kerry during the primaries.
Philanthropy Sumner Redstone has contributed over $150
million, nearly 1.7% of his estimated net worth, to various philanthropic causes.
In April 2007, Sumner M. Redstone announced a commitment of $105 million in charitable
grants to fund research and patient care advancements in cancer and burn recovery at three major
non-profit healthcare organizations.
The cash contributions of $35 million each will be paid out over five years to FasterCures/The
Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions, based in Washington D.C.; the Cedars-Sinai
Prostate Cancer Center in Los Angeles, California; and the Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston, Massachusetts.
Over the last few years, Redstone has contributed $1.5 million to the Global Poverty Project.
He has given millions of dollars to the Cambodian Children's Fund, a nonprofit program that
provides a wide range of critical health and educational services to impoverished and abused
children in the capital city of Phnom Penh.
Redstone's contribution will be used to create the Sumner M. Redstone Child Rescue Center,
a stand-alone facility scheduled to open during the fall of 2007 for children 5 to 16.
In early 2010, Autism Speaks announced that Sumner Redstone made a $1 million donation
to be applied to scientific research into autism's causes, improved treatments, and,
ultimately, its cures.
Part of the gift will support Autism Speaks' programs for children, adults, and families.
While Redstone has supported Autism Speaks since 2007, this is his largest gift to date.
In July 2010, Redstone donated $24 million to the Keck School of Medicine of the University
of Southern California to support cancer research.
In September 2012, Redstone donated $18 million to the Boston University School of Law.
The gift will, in part, fund the construction of a new building to be named after him.
Since October 2012, Redstone has donated a total of $350,000 to the Go Campaign, which
funds projects in 21 countries with a focus on helping orphans and other needy children.
In May 2013, Redstone donated $1 million to Literacy Inc., a grassroots literacy organization
in New York City.
In January, 2014 it was reported that Redstone had donated $10 million to Harvard Law School
for public-interest fellowships.
The gift was the largest charitable contribution ever to the law school in support of public
service.
The money supports students who work in public interest positions after graduation.
Personal life In 1947, he married Phyllis Gloria Raphael.
In 1999, they divorced.
They had two children: Shari Redstone and Brent Redstone.
Three years after his divorce, he married Paula Fortunato, a former primary school teacher
39 years his junior.
Sumner Redstone filed for divorce from her on October 17, 2008.
Their divorce was finalized on January 22, 2009.
Redstone owns a house in the Beverly Park area of Beverly Hills, California, which he
purchased in 2002 for $14,500,000.
In July 2010, Redstone was caught on tape, trying to find the source of an apparently
embarrassing leak within his own MTV.
Redstone offered money and protection to a journalist if he would give up his source.
Apparently Mr. Redstone had been pushing MTV management to give more airtime to a girl
band called the Electric Barbarellas.
On the message, Redstone tells the reporter that "we're not going to kill" the source,
adding "We just want to talk to him".
The 87-year-old Redstone also tells the reporter he will be "well rewarded and well protected"
if he gives up the source.
Peter Lauria told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday he wouldn't do it.
Viacom Inc. spokesman, Carl Folta confirmed to "Today" that it was Redstone's voice on
the message and said the mogul had made a mistake.
A Viacom source tells the Post today, "Sumner wants to be consequential.
Sumner is really proud of what he did.
This guy is loving it … He likes people to know he's still alive".
References
Further reading Auletta, Ken, "The Highwaymen", Harvest Books,
1998.
ISBN 0-15-600573-5 "Sumner's Fall: Freston's Firing Costs Him
$113M" by Tim Arango, New York Post, September 7, 2006.