Things are getting ugly around Sumner Redstone-controlled Viacom. The influential ISS advisory service recommends that shareholders oppose the re-election of six directors (including Deborah Norville), because they approved a fat $17 million award to Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. That’s from Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal says a doctor’s report about the mental condition of 92-year-old Sumner Redstone concludes that Sumner’s not competent to make decisions about his finances or personal health. That’s what his former live-in girlfriend Manuela Herzer’s claiming in her lawsuit, and Dr. Stephen Read did the exam on her behalf. His 37-page report to an L.A. judge isn’t favorable to Redstone. It’s not good for Dauman, either, because Philippe’s been Sumner’s intermediary to the rest of the world. He’s assured the court and others that Sumner knows what’s going on around him.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
As the Sumner Turns
Regular readers of this blog know that I'm following the story of Sumner Redstone closely. The 90-something chairman of Viacom and CBS is in declining health, and the companies he ran with an iron fist are in a state of uncertainty. The same is true of his strange and tawdry personal life. The latest in this saga--from Tom Taylor's NOW column...
