The major breakthrough between Keryn Redstone, 34, her aunt Shari Redstone and her grandfather Sumner Redstone, among others, made way for the dismissal of a suit brought in MA probate court by two former National Amusements Inc. board members. “Rather than quickly signing off on the corporate settlement involving Viacom, Massachusetts Probate Judge George Phelan prodded lawyers in an effort to protect the interests of Keryn Redstone, a granddaughter of the ailing 93-year-old media mogul”.
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During the hearing in Massachusetts, Robert Klieger, a lawyer for Sumner Redstone, said while the trust treats all five grandchildren equally, his client was open to reaffirming this through adjustments to the trust document.
In a statement, Viacom Vice Chairman Shari Redstone, interim Chief Executive Tom Dooley and the rest of the board said they “remain fully supportive of Brad and his leadership of the studio”.
They re-emerged an hour later as the clouds were dispersing, laughing and clapping one another’s backs – a stark contrast to the intense war of words earlier in the week among Keryn Redstone’s attorneys and those for Dauman and Sumner and Shari Redstone, Sumner’s daughter and Keryn’s aunt.
“I’m hoping you’re all pleased with what I think is a reasonable human outcome to a human issue”, Phelan said from the bench. “Thank you all for your flexibility and common sense”. “We’re getting everything – and probably more than – we wanted”.
In May, Dauman and longtime Redstone lieutenant George Abrams sued Sumner and Shari Redstone to protest their removal as trustees of National Amusements Inc., the Massachusetts-based movie theater chain and holding corporation that controls 80 percent of the voting stock in Viacom and CBS. “I don’t know if Shari holds the pen and they move the paper under it”, O’Donnell said.
The proposed trust reformation is created to quell claims by Keryn Redstone that her grandfather is being unduly manipulated and that she could be squeezed from her rightful share of the trust.
Last weekend, Dauman and Redstone seemed to settle their dispute.
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The secret settlement talks, coupled with Viacom’s disastrous performance under Dauman, talent threatening to leave, the unwillingness for other companies to want to engage in deals, and the amount of money at stake, caused the board to put an end to the tumultuous relationship, Stewart noted. In a filing on Thursday she also questioned if Dauman’s side did enough to assure themselves that Redstone had the mental capacity to understand the terms.
