Sumner Redstone

Sumner Redstone: Biography in Details

Who is Sumner Redstone?

Sumner Redstone was a very successful and influential American businessman.

Currently, he was the majority owner and chairman of the board of the National Amusements theater chain.

National Amusements is the parent company of CBS Corporation and Viacom and Viacom in turn is the parent company of Viacom Media Networks, BET Networks, and Paramount Pictures.

Sumner Redstone: Age, Parents, Ethnicity

Sumner Redstone was born on the 27th of May, 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts, the U.S.

He recently celebrated his 98th birthday in 2021. Redstone was born to Jewish parents Belle Ostrovsky (mother) and Michael Rothstein (father).

Sumner Redstone was raised alongside his brother Edward Redstone in Massachusetts. His ethnicity is Ashkenazi Jewish.

Death

He died at his home in Los Angeles on August 11, 2020, at the age of 97. However, the cause of death is unknown.

Education

Redstone was very bright as he was always top of the grade in high school and graduated first in his class from Boston High School.

He then attended Harvard for further education and graduated from there with a bachelor’s degree.

Later he served in the military in the 2nd world war as a First Lieutenant.

After this, he continued with his education and attended Georgetown University Law Center.

Sumner Redstone later transferred to Harvard Law School where he received his law degree in 1947.

Sumner Redstone: Professional Life, Career

Summer Redstone joined the theater chain National Amusements, which was owned by his father in 1954.

He steadily climbed its ranks and became its CEO in 1967.

He believed that content would be superior to the content distribution mechanisms and as such he invested in acquiring several big content-creating companies.

In the beginning, Sumner set his sights on acquiring Viacom, which owned several popular channels such as Nickelodeon, MTV, and several other showtime networks.

After a four-month hostile takeover in 1987, Redstone won the voting control of Viacom and under his management made it into the media giant that it is today.

After Viacom, Redstone set his sights on Paramount Pictures and after a bidding war with fellow businessmen, Barry Diller and John Malone acquired Paramount Pictures for a high price.

Under Redstone’s new leadership Paramount Pictures went on a ten-year winning streak producing global hits such as Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, and the incredibly successful Mission Impossible franchise in the process.

Redstone also acquired Blockbuster and merged it with paramount Pictures.

Sumner also acquired CBS after the then-president of CBS suggested a merger with Redstone.

The merger happened on favorable terms for both parties and after its completion in 2000, Viacom had one of the most diverse businesses that can be imagined.

Viacom owned broadcast networks, cable TV networks, pay Television, Radio, and Television production all at once.

Redstone’s managerial prowess and ambition have been crucial in the creation of his current media empire of nearly 40 billion U.S. dollars.

Currently, he was the majority owner and chairman of the board of National Amusements.

Sumner Redstone was formerly the executive chairman of CBS and Viacom as well but had to resign from both roles after his health complications in 2016.

He has donated millions to several philanthropic causes and has written an autobiography as well.

Sumner Redstone: Net Worth, Salary

As of July 2021, Sumner had a massive net worth of $2.6 billion.

He accumulated all of this from his massive media empire.

Sumner Redstone is currently ranked at no 804 on the Forbes: Billionaires 2020 list.

His total compensation from Viacom in 2014 was a staggering 13 million dollars.

But since then due to his declining health, age, and subsequent inactivity, his current income is much lower.

The legal battle for Redstone’s 40 billion dollar media empire

Due to his massive fortune, there have been many who have tried to keep it for themselves.

The most notorious of those who wanted the fortune for themselves were his ex-girlfriends, Sydney Holland and Manuela Herzer.

They both manipulated the aging Redstone and even made him estranged from his daughter Shari for a while, all so that they could be the ones who inherited his will.

Several nurses and maids in Sumner’s estate have stated that Manuela and Sydney actively manipulated Sumner and almost led to him manipulating all ties with his family.

They both did this so that they could be the inheritors of his massive fortune.

The two were not successful in their plans though and things fell apart in 2015 for both of them.

It all happened when Sydney’s relationship with another partner, Pilgrim, came to light.

Sumner subsequently found out about this and in two days she was out of the estate.

Sumner was very sad about this as it was evident that he cared about her but nevertheless, he had her written out of his will.

Manuela also tried her hardest to be included in Sumner’s will which would mean that she would get 50 million dollars upon his death.

She intercepted letters, didn’t allow Sumner to see other women, and kept Sydney and Sumner’s daughter Shari as far from Sumner as she could.

This all proved to be meaningless when she was kicked out of Sumner’s mansion in the fall of 2015.

Sumner Redstone also removed her from his will.

Manuela immediately took legal action and the legal battle between her and the Redstone family concluded four years later in 2019.

In the end, though, the settlement reached by the courts was in favor of the Redstone family.

As per the agreement Manuela has to pay back 3.25 million in gifts and rewards are given to her by Sumner.

She is also not part of his will and most of his assets will be transferred to his children and grandchildren upon his death.

Sumner’s relationship with his family returned to normal after 2015 and as of now, Shari Redstone; Sumner’s Daughter, is the heir to his massive media empire.

Body Measurements: Height, Weight

Sumner Redstone stands at a height of 6 feet and weighs approximately 80 kilograms.

His hair color is blond and her eyes are blue in color.

Social Media

At the moment Sumner Redstone is not active on any social media platforms.

It was also very unlikely that he will be on any social media platform in the future.

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Sumner Redstone's Birthday Dates