A strong media household torn aside by jealousy and rivalry. A granddaughter dashing to the growing older patriarch’s facet as he very publicly withers away. Lies, betrayal and lawsuits.
These aren’t the machinations of the fictional Roy household from “Succession,” however the dramas which have embroiled the very actual Redstone clan, whose well-documented dysfunction partially impressed the critically acclaimed HBO present.
However these deep rifts — most prominently between Paramount World overlord Shari Redstone and her niece Keryn Redstone — might quickly start to heal because of the upcoming windfall for handing over the reins to the media and leisure big.
The Redstones are poised to gather $1.75 billion for his or her 77% stake in Nationwide Amusements, the household enterprise that controls Paramount, within the on-again, off-again, on-again take care of Skydance Media.
Keryn Redstone, 42, stands to stroll away with roughly $140 million — a last present from the grave from media titan Sumner Redstone as her share of a belief he arrange for his 5 grandkids, sources instructed The Publish.
The mercurial mogul Keryn affectionately known as “Grumpy” turned a dominant drive in media by turning his dad’s 14 drive-in theaters into a whole lot of film palaces.
He then used income to purchase comparatively small stakes in media corporations and resold these stakes within the Nineteen Eighties for big income.
His subsequent step was shopping for media corporations like CBS and Viacom by way of bare-knuckle takeover battles and sheer willpower, earlier than his well being started to fade within the mid-2010s — when Keryn Redstone rushed to his facet.
“I had a tough however genuine relationship with my grandfather,” Keryn Redstone instructed The Publish in an unique interview. “He had such a powerful humorousness.”
He additionally might be cutthroat. Sumner pit his two kids, Shari and Brent Redstone, in opposition to one another in their very own succession battle that continues to play out as Paramount World — the corporate he solid out of CBS and Viacom — nears its conclusion
The older of two daughters fathered by Brent, Keryn Redstone has confronted her personal travails regardless of a seemingly idyllic upbringing in one of many nation’s wealthiest households.
She was raised close to the household compound in Massachusetts earlier than the dad moved the ladies to a 625-acre ranch in rural Evergreen, Colo., when she was 11 years outdated.
She and her sister Lauren, now 38, went to a Colorado prep college that required a five-hour, round-trip commute every day, Keryn mentioned.
After graduating, she moved to New York, getting her movie and tv diploma from NYU in lower than two years, earlier than attaining a regulation diploma from the College of Denver.
It was throughout her time in regulation college that one of many first salvos within the household’s succession feuds was fired when her father sued Nationwide Amusements.
Brent refused to present his Paramount voting shares to his father, who was getting a divorce and needed to take care of management over the enterprise. Shari sided along with her dad’s plans in opposition to her mom’s needs.
Brent settled with Nationwide Amusements in 2007, getting a roughly $240 million payout however giving up his rights to any future cash if the corporate was offered, in line with media stories.
Sumner retained management of Paramount.
Keryn stayed near Grumpy, regardless of the estrangement between the daddy and son.
She would usually journey from her Colorado dwelling to remain on the mogul’s Los Angeles mansion overlooking Beverly Hills.
Throughout that point, she turned pleasant with the tycoon’s a lot youthful live-in girlfriend and caretaker Manuela Herzer, in line with James Stewart and Rachel Abrams’ ebook, “Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Household Legacy.”
Herzer would play a pivotal position in fracturing the Redstone household even additional throughout a bruising authorized battle between the gal pal and Shari as her dad’s well being started to fade.
In 2016, Keryn sided with Herzer, claiming her aunt pressed for a “don’t resuscitate” order whereas her father was hospitalized, in line with courtroom information.
“Shari and her household have managed to completely isolate and successfully kidnap, brainwash, and reap the benefits of my grandfather because of his debilitated frame of mind and frail well being,” she mentioned in a June 2016 assertion.
“Shari and her three grownup kids have succeeded in reversing a long time of my grandfather’s cautious property planning and are poised to grab management of Viacom and CBS.”
Keryn had moved to the Los Angeles mansion the earlier yr on the request of Herzer and her grandfather when Sumner’s well being began quickly failing, she added in her assertion.
“My grandfather and I’ve had a really shut and loving relationship ever since I used to be slightly lady,” Keryn mentioned on the time.
In trade for her shifting in, Grumpy created a $1 million belief for Keryn that allowed her to spend the revenue from the principal, in line with “Unscripted.”
The courtroom battle aired loads of the Redstones’ soiled laundry, together with an alleged demise risk from Shari aimed toward Keryn throughout Sumner’s 91st celebration in 2014, his granddaughter alleged within the lawsuit.
Keryn was sitting subsequent to Sumner as a result of he had injured his hand and requested her to be close to him so she may assist him eat, Keryn mentioned in courtroom filings.
Shari needed to sit down subsequent to him and when Keryn refused to maneuver her aunt threatened to kill her, in line with courtroom paperwork.
“I’m unhappy and dissatisfied that Keryn has chosen to align herself with Herzer in opposition to my father,” Shari’s spokeswoman mentioned on the time.
Throughout that point, Sumner Redstone had resorted to speaking by way of an iPad preloaded with audio clips of his voice saying “sure,” “no” and “f— you,” in line with the Wall Avenue Journal.
Shari barred Keryn and Manuela from Sumner’s home and gained the authorized battle in 2019. Herzer agreed to pay again the Redstone household $3.25 million — a fraction of the cash the billionaire had lavished on her in his last years.
Throughout the current interview with The Publish, Keryn took some accountability for going in opposition to the household.
“I’m accountable for my actions however they’ve gone out of their method to make my life tough.” she lamented.
Sumner died in 2020. He was 97.
After his demise, Keryn Redstone lived a peripatetic life, shifting to rental flats in Colorado, Northern California, Pennsylvania and Virginia, she instructed The Publish.
She additionally has dabbled within the film enterprise, being named as one of many government producers of the 2021 horror movie “The Final Factor Mary Noticed” together with the late Bruce Wasserstein’s daughter Scoop.
The film, set in 1843, tells the story of a murdered strict household matriarch and the position her youngest daughter, who had a relationship with the maid, performed within the killing.
Shari Redstone, in the meantime, acquired management of Sumner’s enterprise and accomplished the CBS-Viacom merger in 2019.
Below Shari’s watch, Paramount World shrank in worth from a $31 billion market cap on the time of the merger in December 2019 to what’s now an $8 billion firm.
Paramount’s 45-day “go-shop” window ends Aug. 21 earlier than it’s anticipated to simply accept the Skydance supply.
The 5 Sumner grandchildren will get 40% of the proceeds, roughly $140 million every, sources with data of the patriarch’s last will instructed The Publish.
Sheri Redstone, 70, has three kids — Tyler Korff, 38, Brandon Korff, 40, and Kimberlee Ostheimer, 42.
Ex-wife Phyllis Redstone, 99, can be slated to get 40% of the proceeds, whereas Shari will pocket the remaining 20%, about $350 million, the sources added.
Phyllis has lived just lately in one of many bungalows at The Beverly Hills Lodge in California, one supply instructed The Publish. It’s not identified who stands to inherit her sizable fortune. She additionally obtained a $100 million money settlement after her 52-year marriage to Sumner Redstone led to divorce in 2002, in line with the Los Angeles Occasions.
Whereas Keryn nonetheless hasn’t patched issues up along with her high-profile aunt, she mentioned she now enjoys a superb relationship with cousin Tyler Korff, an ordained rabbi.
As for what the long run might carry ought to she rating the massive verify from a Paramount sale, Keryn declined to debate specifics.
Keryn mentioned she loves and needs to be round animals.
“Give me 1,000 horses, cats and canines and I’m good,” she mentioned.
