The December Vanity Fair has a glossy Bryan Burroughs spread on Viacom/CBS Chairman Sumner Redstone — the fish-filled house in exclusive, gated Beverly Park, the love story between the 83-year-old tycoon and much-younger wife, the beyond retirement- age exec tycoon determined to make sure everyone know who really wields the power.
“I think Sumner will do anything for attention. It’s what started all this,” says Sue Mengers, the Hollywood doyenne and onetime superagent. “The consensus in the community is that what he did to Tom Cruise, and to Freston, was outrageous, you know, just to prove he’s still alive.” … An afternoon spent at the Redstone home doesn’t entirely dispel the theory. Sitting in a straight-backed chair in the living room, attired in an unfortunate blue plaid jacket and black shoes, Redstone comes across as feisty as he did when he burst onto the financial scene, 20 years ago. But he looks frail and has a senior moment or three, losing his train of thought, repeating stories, and asking that a question or two be repeated. Still, he appears in total command, roundly attacking Cruise and, while emphasizing how much he admires Freston, trashing him nonetheless. He appears in command, that is, until the very end, when he stands to shake my hand and, to my horror, suddenly lurches to one side and begins to fall.”
The canny Redstone must have known the gloss of this story would come at a price so why do it? Turns out he was irked by dropping far down the VF New Establishment ranking. Redstone: “The fact is, nothing really important can happen at either [Viacom or CBS] without me clearing it… That, of course, was the story with Tom Cruise, and with Tom Freston. I guess that caused Vanity Fair to wake up to the idea that I wasn’t really stepping away from business.” So VF is one more way to show who’s in charge.
MySpace: Burroughs doesn’t give Redstone the edge. In a very detailed passage, he notes that a lawyer reporting to Redstone halted negotiations when Eliot Spitzer went after MySpace parent Intermix. At another point, he mentions a board meeting after the banking team making the MySpace deal invited Viacom to top Fox’s $580 million bid with Freston, among others including daughter Shari Redstone, urged a counterbid. “I remember Ace said, ‘Don’t be afraid to go for it,”’ says a person who attended the board meeting. “But Sumner and Philippe Dauman said it was irrational, that Rupert was irrational, that he would pay anything, that they would end up [paying more than] $800 million.” From Redstone’s perspective, it never should have gotten that far; that Freston blew it by waiting too long.
Succession: “Redstone says Shari’s future “is subject to two points. That she would want to [succeed me]. And the boards of both companies would have to approve her.” Through a spokesman, Shari Redstone declined comment.
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