Thirteen years ago, when Sumner Redstone was busy building Viacom Inc. into a media powerhouse and needed a helping hand to run the family's theater chain, he turned to his daughter, Shari Redstone, who was home raising her three children.
When theater circuits began going belly up in the late 1990s, it was Shari who kept National Amusements Inc. on track. She expanded the company globally, taking National into Russia and Latin America. She helped pioneer the upscale cinema, bringing gourmet food, bar lounges and valet parking to theaters such as the Bridge in Los Angeles.
Her reward? Her father named Shari a vice chairwoman and director of Viacom and CBS Corp., the two companies he controls through National. A few years ago, he changed the family trust to suggest that Shari assume his titles as chairman of the three companies upon his death.
Although Sumner's son was older, it was his daughter who made him proud. "Your life is not complete until you have met Shari," he told a reporter in 2005.
But the father-daughter relationship is now in shambles. The two, who once enjoyed sparring on the tennis court and playing gin rummy together on airplane trips, have been estranged for months because of disagreements about succession, corporate governance and the future of the theater business. Father and daughter are no longer speaking.
Even negotiations between their lawyers are at an impasse.
Shari, 53, is considering legal action against her 84-year-old father, who now says his successor must be chosen by the Viacom and CBS boards. He would like to extricate her from the companies, perhaps by transferring ownership of the theater circuit to Shari in exchange for her stock in Viacom and CBS, people close to him say.
That would leave the companies without a Redstone at the top when the patriarch dies. Such an ending should come as no surprise to anyone who knows Sumner, who has long insisted that he would control them even from the grave. "I am Viacom" is a favorite refrain of his.
Shari and Sumner declined to be interviewed. But one person close to him, who asked for anonymity for fear of offending the mogul, said he could not cede power despite his ripe age: "This is about Sumner not giving up control. It doesn't matter if he's related to you or not."
