March 28, 2024

Shari Redstone and Leslie Moonves Have Starring Roles in a Corporate War

In a statement issued afterward, National Amusements said it “has no intention of forcing a merger that is not supported by both CBS and Viacom. Today’s board vote, while couched as an effort to prevent such a transaction, was pure pretext. CBS management and the special committee cannot wish away the reality that CBS has a controlling shareholder.”

CBS rejected that view, saying in a news release after the meeting, “The board of directors has taken this step because it believes it is in the best interests of all CBS stockholders, is necessary to protect stockholders’ interests and would unlock significant stockholder value.”

The decision by CBS to file a lawsuit against Ms. Redstone on Monday was an early salvo in its effort to block her from achieving her ambition of reuniting the two companies, which had been one and the same from 2000 to 2006. That suit ended in a loss for Mr. Moonves. Still, the 17-page decision by Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard of Delaware’s Court of Chancery left a door open for CBS to challenge any further moves by its main shareholder down the line.

Earlier in the week, while the judge was considering the lawsuit, Mr. Moonves was playing his role as the gregarious network executive to the hilt: On Tuesday, he attended a dinner thrown by the talent agency WME at Peter Luger, the Brooklyn steakhouse. On Wednesday, at the network’s annual presentation for advertisers, he stood on the Carnegie Hall stage, basking in applause before making mention of his plight with the expert timing of a late-night host — “So. How’s your week been?” — to a roar of laughter.

At the network’s spare-no-expense party after the event, held in grand rooms on four floors of the Plaza Hotel, Mr. Moonves sat on a couch in the company of his wife, the anchor and television host Julie Chen, as the talent stopped by to kiss the ring.

Despite such trappings, which go along with an annual pay package of $69.3 million, Mr. Moonves may not be able to run CBS in a manner that goes against the wishes of its major shareholder. Since 1999, Ms. Redstone has served as the president and director of her father’s company, and her role has lately expanded, now that Mr. Redstone is in poor health, under the watch of attendants in his $20 million mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif. Since February of last year, Ms. Redstone has been the official head of National Amusements, having taken control from the patriarch who once boasted that he would never die.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/business/media/cbs-shari-redstone-les-moonves.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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