The death of Sumner Redstone, “a ferocious dealmaker who elbowed his way into Hollywood”, robs the movie industry of one of its most eccentric and influential characters, says the Financial Times. Redstone, who built the Viacom-CBS empire and coined the phrase “content is king”, was one of the last great media moguls. A cantankerous man, who insisted well into his nineties that he was “never going to die”, he strove to fend off the grim reaper on a diet of “goji berries, tomato juice and fish”. At 97, death caught up with him.
Living the American dream
Redstone’s life story, which began in a Boston tenement, had all the makings of the American dream. And he lived it like a protagonist in a drama – never backing down from a fight. Over the years, Redstone waged war on everyone from fellow moguls and actor Tom Cruise to former lovers and his children. Indeed, “his brash manner and family feuds helped to inspire the character Logan Roy on HBO’s Succession”. In 1979, Redstone survived a deadly hotel fire, says the Los Angeles Times. He later described how he had crouched on a narrow ledge as the flames seared his flesh. “The pain was excruciating but I refused to let go.” He suffered third-degree burns over 45% of his body and spent months in hospital – later citing his recovery as proof of his grit and determination. “The will to survive is the will to win too.”
Born Sumner Murray Rothstein in 1923, Redstone lived in fear of his “demanding” father – a linoleum salesman who built a small chain of drive-in cinemas and later changed the family name to Redstone, says The New York Times. “Whatever we did was not quite good enough,” Sumner later wrote. “I did nothing but study… I had no social life. I had no friends.” After winning a scholarship to Harvard to study law during the second world war, he was invited to Washington to join a team of army cryptographers. But spying didn’t suit Sumner; neither, he found, did law. He returned to Boston in 1954 to join the family business.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Redstone’s first great “insight” was perceiving a big shift in US cinema-going in the early Sixties – he saw that the future lay in big out-of-town complexes and coined the term “multiplex” to describe them. The company, renamed National Amusements, swiftly became a cinema powerhouse, says The Guardian. His rise to mogul status” began in 1987 – the year in which both his parents died – when he spent $3.5bn on a hostile takeover of Viacom, in a deal financed by junk-bond king Michael Milken.
The success of youth channels MTV and Nickelodeon cemented Redstone’s conviction that content was all-important. In 1994, he defeated industry heavyweights Barry Diller and John Malone in a battle to acquire movie studio Paramount, four years later adding the CBS TV network to his empire in a $37bn deal that was then the biggest in media history.
A disappointing end to the drama
The pursuit of Redstone’s ambition came “at the expense of those close to him”: he waged a bitter power-struggle with his brother Edward, and his heirs, to keep control of the company. Towards the end of his life, this “personal soap opera” coincided with “seismic shifts in technology” that ravaged Redstone’s “treasured investments”, says the FT. As he increasingly retreated from public view, succession-planning became “fraught” – culminating in a high-stakes 2016 lawsuit that saw his daughter, Shari, take the reins. She now inherits a “decidedly smaller and more vulnerable” empire. It probably wasn’t the grand finale Redstone hoped for.
-
Should you invest in UK equities?The FTSE 100 hit a record high this week, but UK equities remain unloved and undervalued compared to their global and US peers. Should you snap them up at a discount?
-
State pension errors: DWP urged to check for mistakes among divorced peopleFormer pensions minister Steve Webb says there are a high number of divorced women on low state pensions. Now MPs want the DWP to check if there were any errors in “potentially underpaying men and women who are divorced”.
-
Should your business invest in a VoIP phone service?Here's what you need to know about VOIP (voice over IP) services before landlines go digital in 2025.
-
The end of China’s boomLike the US, China too got fat on fake money. Now, China's doom is not far away.
-
The many frauds of Dozy Mmobuosi, failed Sheffield United ownerProfile Dozy Mmobuosi was a big-hitter with a fintech empire when he stepped in to rescue a failing Yorkshire football club. But he was not quite the saviour he seemed.
-
What is the future of Royal Mail in the UK?With fewer of us sending letters and parcels, the Royal Mail is finding dealing with the nation’s post is an increasingly unprofitable and costly business.
-
What's the secret of Manolo Blahnik's success?Fashion maestro Manolo Blahnik shows little sign of slowing down at 81, and his company notched up a record financial year in 2022. What is the secret of his success?
-
Michelle Mone's "tough year of pain"Michelle Mone liked to portray herself as a working-class heroine who worked her way to the top through grit and determination. But her pedestal is built on sand.
-
Trevor Milton, the Elon Musk wannabe, is jailed for fraudThe former CEO of Nikola, Trevor Milton, has been found guilty of lying about the development of the company's electric trucks.
-
Directors should think twice before waiving limited liabilityShould small-business directors ever provide a personal guarantee in return for bank finance?
