Meet Shari Redstone, the millionaire exec behind Paramount: the US media mogul faces a multibillion-dollar debt and feuds with her father Sumner may have inspired HBO’s hit show Succession …

Feb 8 , 2024

Shari Redstone is one of America’s most powerful women in the media business, inheriting the legacy of her father Sumner Redstone’s billion-dollar empire. Photo: Getty Images

The family drama between Shari and her entertainment titan father Sumner Redstone, former CBS and Viacom exec chairman, is said to have inspired the hit HBO show Succession

Her business manoeuvres resulted in the merger that led to Paramount, but recent news suggests that her father’s media empire, which she inherited, may be headed for a buyout

American media mogul Shari Redstone has been a legend in the corporate world. She was the first woman to have a large stake of a US media business and controlled a media empire that was, at one point, worth US$30 billion, per Forbes.

Having wrestled control of her father’s media empire from competing business rivals and successfully pitching a merger that resulted in Paramount in 2019, Redstone was recognised as a force to be reckoned with. By the end of the year, however, the company was only worth below US$10 billion, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Now, with a debt burden of US$15.7 billion, Redstone has to not only consider staff lay-offs, per the New York Post, but also potential offers to buy the very business that was the life and work of her father, Sumner Redstone.

Shari Redstone was responsible for the merger between CBS and Viacom that resulted in Paramount. Photo: AP

As big bosses from Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global fuel speculation with their meetings, it is Redstone, with a reported estimated personal net worth of US$500 million, who may ultimately be the deciding factor on what the future of the American media landscape will look like.

But who is Shari Redstone – and how has her relationship with her father reportedly inspired the multiple Emmy award-winning Succession, one of the biggest prestige shows of the past five years?

The Redstone media legacy

Shari Redstone’s father is Sumner Redstone, former exec chairman of Viacom Inc and CBS Corporation who passed away in 2020. Photo: AP

Shari, 69, was born into staggering wealth thanks to her billionaire father Sumner, who built a media empire with companies Viacom and CBS Corporation. According to The New York Times, Shari spent years working at National Amusements, the theatre company that is also a holding company for Paramount. As her father’s health waned, she made several efforts to gain control of the company. The tough businesswoman, who is also a trained lawyer, won and promoted the idea of a merger between CBS and Viacom, now called Paramount.

Shari Redstone was one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Photo: Getty Images

Once labelled a “featherweight who had won her job by nepotism”, as per LA Mag, Redstone quickly turned the naysayers into fans when she made impressive business moves after she took over her father’s empire. She was also named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020, which solidified her position. She currently serves as the non-executive chairwoman of Paramount Global and president of National Amusements.

What do we know about Shari Redstone’s personal life?

Shari Redstone (right) was named one of Variety’s Power of Women Class of 2017. Photo: @metrosocietyph/Instagram