Shari Redstone | |
---|---|
Born | Shari Ellin Redstone April 14, 1954 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Education | Tufts University (BS) Boston University (JD, LLM) |
Occupations |
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Spouse | [1] [2] |
Children | 3 [3] [4] |
Parent | Sumner Redstone (father) |
Relatives | Michael Redstone (grandfather) Brent Redstone (brother) |
Shari Ellin Redstone (born April 14, 1954) is an American businesswoman and media executive. [5] She is the non-executive chairwoman of Paramount Global (formerly known as ViacomCBS) and chairwoman, president and CEO of National Amusements, and a former vice chair of CBS Corporation [6] and Viacom. [7] Through National Amusements, Redstone and her family hold majority voting power over Paramount Global and its subsidiaries – CBS, Comedy Central, BET, Showtime Networks, Nickelodeon, MTV and the film studio Paramount Pictures.
In 2020, Redstone was named on Time 's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. [8] In 2023, she ranked 37th in Forbes list of "World's 100 most powerful women". [9]
Redstone is the daughter of Phyllis Gloria Raphael and Sumner Redstone, and the sister of Brent Redstone. Her grandfather was Michael Redstone, who was the original founder of National Amusements, the parent company that now owns the majority of the Redstone media empire. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Tufts University in 1975. She later received her J.D. degree in 1978 and her LL.M. degree in 1980 from Boston University School of Law.
Redstone practiced corporate law, estate planning and criminal law in the Boston area before joining National Amusements. [10]
Since 1999, she has been president of National Amusements, one of the top ten movie exhibitors in the United States. [11] Redstone has expanded the company's international footprint and its exploration of new technologies. [12] [13] [14]
In 2007, Redstone and her father feuded publicly over issues of corporate governance and the future of the cinema chain. [15] Documents have 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 to his grandchildren. [16]
In 2010, Redstone and her partners purchased the theaters that they had built, and formed Rising Star Media, [17] of which she was chairman, and turned it into the country's top-grossing cinema chain. [18] Redstone and her partners then sold Rising Star Media to Russian theater operator Cinema Park in 2011. [19]
In 2011, Redstone became co-founder and managing partner of Advancit Capital LLC, [20] an investment platform focusing on early stage in media, entertainment and technology. [20] She was a co-chairman of MovieTickets.com (before being sold to Fandango Media in 2017), [21] Inc. and is a member of the board of directors and executive committee for the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO). [21]
On February 3, 2016, her father resigned as CBS executive chairman after questions arose about his mental competency. CBS's board then offered Shari Redstone the position of non-executive chair, but she declined. [22] The CBS board announced that Les Moonves replaced Sumner Redstone as chairman. [23] In 2016, Redstone, who at the time was vice chairperson of CBS and Viacom and president of National Amusements (the controlling shareholder of CBS and Viacom), gave the following statement on succession: "my father's Trust states his intention that I succeed him as (non-executive) Chairman at CBS and Viacom, and also names me as a Trustee after his death." She stated that she wanted the chairs of each company to be "not a Trustee of my father's trust or otherwise intertwined in Redstone family matters," and she nominated Les as the CBS chair. [24]
In February 2016, against Shari Redstone's desires, [25] [26] [27] Viacom's board of directors named Philippe Dauman, already the CEO and president, the chairman, replacing Sumner Redstone. [23]
In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that Shari Redstone was pushing for CBS to merge with Viacom, with Redstone also gathering names for new board members at CBS. [28]
In August 2019, the Associated Press reported that Shari Redstone had become the chair of the board for the reuniting of CBS and Viacom as ViacomCBS, today known as Paramount Global. [29]
In May 2020, she was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the Bucks County Retirement Fund and the International Union of Operating Engineers, over the perceived "destruction of value" caused by the CBS and Viacom merger. [30] In January 2021, a Delaware judge said former CBS shareholders could sue Shari Redstone for pressuring the company to enter the merger, [31] and in 2022, Redstone and Viacom sued a group of insurers for refusing to cover legal bills incurred by the court battle. [32]
In July 2024, it was announced that Redstone would sell to independent film studio Skydance Media, founded by film producer David Ellison, her family's "controlling" interest in Paramount Global, in a merger agreement that would give birth to a corporation valued approximately $28 billion. [33]
Redstone married and later divorced Rabbi Ira A. Korff, [34] and they had three children: [1] [35]
Her ex-husband was president and director of National Amusements until two years after they divorced. [1]
As of January 2018, Redstone is a member of the board of directors at Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the board of trustees at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. [21] She is also on the board of directors of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University [42] and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. [43] Redstone joined the board and executive committee of "Our Time", a mass-membership organization that stands for the economic interests and political inclusion of young Americans aged 18–30. She sits on the local advisory board and executive committee for BUILD, a nonprofit organization that uses entrepreneurship to propel low income youth through high school and into college. [44]
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film and television production and distribution company and the namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States, and the sole member of the "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles.
The second phase of Viacom Inc., was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate with interests primarily in film and television. It was established on December 31, 2005, as one of two companies which succeeded the original Viacom, alongside the second CBS Corporation. The controlling shareholder of both companies was National Amusements, a theater company headed by businessman Sumner Redstone. The split was structured so that the original Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation and spun out its cable and film interests as a new Viacom.
Sumner Murray Redstone was an American billionaire businessman and media magnate. He was the founder and chairman of the second incarnation of Viacom, chairman of CBS Corporation, and the majority owner and chairman of the National Amusements theater chain.
National Amusements, Inc. is an American privately owned movie theater operator and mass media holding company incorporated in Maryland and based in Norwood, Massachusetts.
Leslie Roy Moonves is an American media executive who was the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation from 2003 until his resignation in September 2018 following numerous allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault and abuse. He has been married to TV personality Julie Chen since 2004.
Flix is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Showtime Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global operated through its Paramount Media Networks division. Its programming consists solely of theatrically released motion pictures released from the 1970s to the present day, interspersed with some films from the 1950s and 1960s.
Thomas E. Freston is an American media proprietor, businessman, and financier.
The second incarnation of CBS Corporation was an American multinational media company with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, and television production. It was formed on December 31, 2005, as the legal successor of the original Viacom, following the spin-off of the second incarnation of Viacom; both CBS Corporation and the second Viacom were controlled by National Amusements, a theater company owned by billionaire Sumner Redstone.
Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus and Mike Francesa. Infinity merged with CBS Corporation in 1997 and later became part of Viacom in 2000, when CBS and Viacom merged, serving as the radio division of CBS. After the Viacom split in 2005, Infinity changed its name to CBS Radio; the company would later merge with Entercom, presently known as Audacy, Inc.
Philippe Pierre Dauman is an American businessman who served as president, CEO and chairman of Viacom from September 2006 until May 20, 2016. Dauman was a longtime associate of the company's chairman Sumner Redstone. Dauman served from 1994 to 2000 as a member of Viacom's executive committee and as executive vice president in charge of strategic transactions, legal and government affairs, human resources and administration, supervising Paramount Pictures Entertainment, Showtime Networks and Simon & Schuster. Dauman was also a director at Redstone-owned CBS Corporation until September 2006.
Yitzhak Aharon Korff is the present Rebbe of Zvhil – Mezhbizh. Since 1975 he has been the Chaplain of the City of Boston and spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Jacob, Zvhil–Mezhbizh Beit Medrash of Boston, Miami, and Jerusalem, serving also with the Chief Rabbis of Israel as Spiritual Leader of The Jerusalem Great Synagogue. He is a dayan of the BaDaTz Boston Beth din and Vaad HaRabbonim. He is also principal of Korff Associates, consultants in business, diplomacy and international law and relations, Consul to the government of Austria and publisher of the Boston-based Jewish newspaper The Jewish Advocate.
Brent Dale Redstone (born c. 1951) is an American lawyer, heir and businessman.
Michael "Mickey" Redstone was an American entrepreneur and founder of the Northeast Theater Corporation, now National Amusements, Inc.
Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. Since its creation, the franchise has expanded into various films, television series, video games, novels, and comic books, and it has become one of the most recognizable and highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
The original phase of Viacom Inc. was an American mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in New York City. It began as CBS Television Film Sales, the broadcast syndication division of the CBS television network in 1952; it was renamed CBS Films in 1958, renamed CBS Enterprises in 1968, renamed Viacom in 1970, and spun off into its own company in 1971. Viacom was a distributor of CBS television series throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and also distributed syndicated television programs. The company went under Sumner Redstone's control in 1987 through his cinema chain company National Amusements.
The Electric Barbarellas were an American all-female electropop group whose career with producer Midi Mafia was depicted in a short-lived, critically panned, eponymous reality show that ran for one season on MTV.
Robert Marc Bakish is an American business executive. He became the president and CEO of Paramount Global on December 4, 2019, formerly holding the same position at Viacom before the merger with CBS Corporation. He resigned on April 29, 2024 when Paramount was considering a major merger after a poor performance in the stock market.
Paramount Global is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan. The company was formed on December 4, 2019, as ViacomCBS through the merger of the second incarnations of CBS Corporation and Viacom. The company took its current name on February 16, 2022.
The 2019 merger of CBS Corporation and Viacom was announced on August 13, 2019, and was completed on December 4, 2019. The merger of equals reunited CBS Corporation and Viacom into a single company known as ViacomCBS after their separation from the first incarnation of Viacom on December 31, 2005. Both companies were owned by the theater company National Amusements, which remains the owner of the merged entity.
On December 31, 2005, American mass media company Viacom split into two companies: the second CBS Corporation, its successor which holds the namesake flagship channel Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS News, CBS Sports, Showtime Networks, UPN, Smithsonian Channel, Channel 10, PopTV, Simon and Schuster, Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, Viacom Outdoor, and Paramount Television, and an entirely new Viacom which holds Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Noggin, Nicktoons, TEENick, Music Television, Black Entertainment Television, Video Hits One, Country Music Television, and later DreamWorks, respectively. It was first announced in March 2005. The companies are controlled under National Amusements' control because of a stagnating stock price.