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Media mogul Sumner Redstone, who has been out of the public eye for more than a year, made appearances at two of his companies over the past five days.

Mr. Redstone paid a visit to Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures movie studio in Hollywood, according to a letter made public from Viacom's lead independent director on Tuesday. He also visited CBS Corp.'s West Coast headquarters, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The in-person visits come at a time when Mr. Redstone is in a legal battle with Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive Philippe Dauman and is refusing to talk to him or the company's board of directors. Last month, Mr. Dauman and Viacom board member George Abrams were removed from the trust that will oversee Mr. Redstone's controlling stakes in CBS and Viacom after he dies or is found to be incompetent.

Messrs. Dauman and Abrams have filed suit in Massachusetts to block their removal, claiming that the ailing 93-year-old Mr. Redstone no longer possesses the mental capacity to make such decisions and that his daughter Shari Redstone, also a trustee and a vice chairman of Viacom and CBS, is secretly pulling the strings. Ms. Redstone has denied that accusation.

Mr. Redstone went to Paramount last Friday, according to a letter Viacom board member Frederic Salerno wrote to Mr. Redstone on Tuesday in an attempt to re-establish communications with the controlling shareholder. While at the studio, Mr. Redstone met briefly with Paramount chief Brad Grey inside the van in which Mr. Redstone was traveling, a person familiar with the matter said.

On Tuesday, Mr. Redstone also popped over to see CBS Corp. Chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves. Like his visit to Paramount, Mr. Redstone stayed in his car and Mr. Moonves came down from his Studio City office to chat with him for 10 to 15 minutes, a person familiar with the meeting said.

A CBS spokesman declined to comment on the meeting.

A Viacom spokesman dismissed Mr. Redstone's recent activity as nothing more than a stunt. "We are saddened that Sumner is now being used for staged legal and publicity ploys," the spokesman said.

A spokesman for Mr. Redstone declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for Ms. Redstone.

The emergence of the media mogul after a year of being confined primarily to his Beverly Park mansion is seen as an effort by the Redstone camp to show that he is in control. Although he can no longer walk and he now travels with a team of nurses, one of whom helps translate his stroke-impaired speech, his doctor and daughter insist his mind is still sharp. Earlier this month, Dr. James Spar said Mr. Redstone told him through an interpreter that Mr. Dauman has "done a bad job running Viacom" and that Mr. Abrams was removed from the trust because "he's not listening to me."

Messrs. Dauman and Abrams as well as other Viacom board members have said they sought meetings with Mr. Redstone, only to be rebuffed.

Mr. Redstone has cited in statements through third parties that Viacom's decision to pursue the sale of a minority stake in Paramount as cause for his anger with Mr. Dauman and the board.

In his letter Tuesday, Mr. Salerno, the lead independent board member of Viacom, again urged Mr. Redstone to meet with him. He also suggested that refusing to meet could lead to more legal action.

"Putting up a wall around you ensures more litigation--and that is not what we want. We want to understand what is happening with you. And I can assure you that you can count on us to stick up for you and for the many other Viacom shareholders you have served so well for so many years," Mr. Salerno wrote.

Mr. Salerno decided to write his latest letter because Mr. Redstone's attorney had failed to answer a prior letter renewing his request to see the media titan and laying out a proposed agenda for the session, one person close to the matter said Tuesday.

Mr. Redstone's granddaughter Keryn Redstone has said in recent statements that she hasn't been able to see her grandfather since February, when she described him as "lifeless" and unaware of his surroundings.

Joann S. Lublin contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 15, 2016 00:05 ET (04:05 GMT)

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