King of Content

The remarkable story of Sumner Redstone, his family legacy, and the battles for all he controlled.Sumner Murray Redstone(19232020), who lived by the credo "e;content is king,"e; leveraged his fathers chain of drive-in movie theaters into one of the worlds greatest media empires through a series of audacious takeovers designed to ensure his permanent control. Over the course of this meteoric rise, he made his share of enemies and feuded with nearly every member of his family.In The King of Content, Keach Hagey deconstructs Redstones rise from Bostons West End through Harvard Law School to the highest echelons of American business. The ninety-seven-year-old moguls life became a tabloid soap opera, the center of acrimonious legal battles throughout his vast holdings, which included Paramount Pictures and two of the largest public media companies, Viacom and CBS. At the heart of these lawsuits was Redstones tumultuous love life and complicated relationship with his children. Redstones daughter, Shari, has emerged as his de facto successor, but only after she ousted his closest confidant in a fierce power struggle.Yet Redstones assets face an existential threat that goes beyond his family, disgruntled ex-girlfriends, or even the management of his companies: the changing nature of media consumption. As more and more people cut their cable cords, CBS, with its focus on sports and broadcast TV, has held steady, while Viacom, with its once-great cable channels like MTV and Nickelodeon, has suffered a precipitous fall. As their rivals merge, the question is whether Sharis push to undo her fathers last big strategic maneuver and recombine CBS and Viacom will be enough to shore up their future.A biography and corporate whodunit filled with surprising details, The King of Content investigates Redstones impact on business and popular culture, as well as the family feuds, corporate battles, and questionable alliances that go back decadesall laid bare in this authoritative book.