Hollywood mogul and ViacomCBS Inc. Chairman Emeritus Sumner Redstone died Tuesday after a lengthy illness, according to the Redstone family’s private holding company National Amusements. Redstone was 97. The media titan spent his lifetime growing his father’s movie theater chain into a global entertainment empire through a series of savvy investments and acquisitions. He first purchased Viacom Inc. and assets including Showtime, MTV and Nickelodeon, located in Burbank, in 1987 after a four-month hostile takeover. Redstone went on to purchase Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Entertainment and Dreamworks. But his largest move came in 2000, when he merged Viacom with former parent company CBS Corp., creating one of the day’s largest media conglomerates. He later split the companies apart in 2006. Though ViacomCBS is headquartered in New York, the company has a Valley connection in CBS Studios in Studio City, where much of the company’s content is filmed. Key to Redstone’s leadership was his belief that content is more important than distribution. He is credited with coining the phrase “content is king.” He is equally infamous for his ruthless corporate management style, and has been criticized for his exploitation of freelance workers in growing his company through the 1980s and 1990s. In a statement, ViacomCBS Chief Executive Bob Bakish called Redstone “a brilliant visionary, operator and dealmaker.” “He was a force of nature and fierce competitor, who leaves behind a profound legacy in both business and philanthropy,” Bakish added. In his final years, Redstone’s personal life became turbulent, as he was entangled in a flurry of lawsuits from family members and romantic partners. His relationship with daughter Shari Redstone was particularly rocky – in line to be his successor, the two were often at odds regarding their visions for the future of the family’s media holdings. After emerging with control of the company’s assets, Shari Redstone pushed for the 2018 merger that reunited Viacom and CBS. She is still the chairwoman of ViacomCBS and president of the National Amusements holding company.
