Sumner Redstone Says He No Longer Trusts Viacom Board or CEO
June 15 2016 - 08:40PM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint
Viacom Inc. controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone said he
doesn't trust the company's board of directors or its Chairman and
Chief Executive Philippe Dauman.
In an email Wednesday to Viacom board member Frederic Salerno in
response to a request for a meeting, Mr. Redstone said the board
and Mr. Dauman are ignoring his wishes and he doesn't think the
board or the company is acting in the best interest of
shareholders.
"I no longer trust Philippe or those who support him," Mr.
Redstone said. Mr. Redstone is engaged in an ugly legal battle with
Mr. Dauman and the Viacom board stemming from the removal last
month of Mr. Dauman and fellow board member George Abrams from the
trust that will oversee the 93-year-old media mogul's empire after
he dies or is declared incapacitated.
Among the issues cited for Mr. Redstone's loss of faith in Mr.
Dauman is the performance of Viacom's stock and the decision to
sell a chunk of the Paramount Pictures movie studio.
The response from Mr. Redstone comes after several requests from
Mr. Dauman and the board to meet with him. On Tuesday, Mr. Salerno
wrote Mr. Redstone saying, he was alarmed "that your
representatives refuse us the opportunity to talk with you" and
that the new legal and media team working for him say, "strongly
held views you have expressed for decades have, in the past few
months, completely reversed."
Mr. Salerno said in a statement Wednesday: "We could clear a lot
of this up if Sumner would share his thoughts with me
face-to-face."
Board members and Mr. Dauman have said in legal filings that Mr.
Redstone no longer has the capacity to make decisions over the
trust and his holdings and accused Mr. Redstone's daughter Shari of
exercising undue influence on her ailing father to position herself
to assume control of his companies which, besides Viacom includes
CBS Corp. Ms. Redstone has denied that charge and last month Mr.
Redstone said the changes made to the trust were his decision.
A Viacom spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Redstone's
letter.
After spending more than a year in seclusion, Mr. Redstone
emerged last week to make a trip to Paramount's Hollywood lot where
he chatted briefly with studio chief Brad Grey. On Tuesday, he made
a similar visit to CBS Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves.
Both conversations took place in the van transporting Mr. Redstone,
who also needs a nurse to translate his stroke-impaired speech. Ms.
Redstone accompanied him to Paramount but not CBS.
A Viacom spokesman said the visits were a staged stunt for
"legal and publicity ploys."
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 15, 2016 20:25 ET (00:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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