Sumner Redstone

Sumner M. Redstone, born Sumner Murray Rothstein, May 27, 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts, is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom.

Succession

Redstone made arrangements to step down from Viacom in 2006, mainly due to concerns about his age. After Mel Karmazin resigned in 2004, two heir apparents were named: Co-President & Co-COO Leslie Moonves (who was #2 to Karmazin at CBS; he was the former head of Warner Bros. Television and before that, Lorimar Television) and Co-President & Co-COO Tom Freston (who has been President & CEO of MTV Networks since 1987 and had been with the company since the formation of MTV Networks' precursor company, Warner-AMEX Satellite Entertainment).

Related Topics:
Leslie Moonves - Warner Bros. Television - Lorimar Television - Tom Freston

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It is rumored that Moonves was promoted to Co-President & Co-COO with Tom Freston, not only for his talent and management style, but also because he was on the short list of executives to replace Michael Eisner at the Walt Disney Company when his contract runs out in 2006 (others speculate that Peter Chernin, the President & COO of News Corporation, parent of Fox Entertainment Group, is at the top of that list). To keep Moonves on board, Redstone elevated his position to equal standing with Tom Freston.

Related Topics:
Michael Eisner - Walt Disney Company - News Corporation

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Moonves oversees CBS, UPN, Infinity Broadcasting, Viacom Outdoor, and Paramount Television, while Freston oversees MTV Networks, Showtime Networks, Paramount Pictures, and Simon & Schuster.

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Tom Freston's long service with Viacom was believed to make him the most likely successor to Redstone's job as Viacom CEO, although it is still uncertain.

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Complicating matters further, on March 16, 2005, Sumner announced that he and the Viacom board are looking into a potential split of the company. Under terms that Sumner floated, Freston would run a company that primarily consisted of MTV Networks, and Moonves would run a company that primarily consisted of CBS, Viacom's billboard operations, and its radio holdings. http://www.viacom.com/press.tin?ixPressRelease=80704186

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The company split was approved by the Viacom board on June 14, 2005.

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