Viacom honcho Sumner Redstone is scheduled to speak at Boston University tomorrow afternoon. If there's a Q&A portion, we sure hope someone asks him about his awesome new web platform Flux, which is sure to be the hottest social networking site this Yom Kippur.
Ever wondered how the eternally youthful Sumner Redstone stays so spry, vibrant and wrinkle-free? Turns out, he's on drugs! Strange overpriced elixirs, that keep his unsightly jowls, rampant Rosacea and droopy, bloodshot eyes looking their absolute best.
Viacom/CBS chief Sumner Redstone, 84, claims to be getting a boost from a little-known, antioxidant-rich concoction called MonaVie, a dark-purple elixir whose main ingredient is the Brazilian acai berry, long touted for its anti-aging ingredients. "It's a miracle drug," says Redstone.
Looks as though MonaVie is truly living up to their old advertising slogan. "MonaVie: Keeping eccentric rich people alive five ten, even fifteen years past their expiration date."
And how!
Google wants Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert (of Viacom's Comedy Central) and Viacom chief Sumner Redstone to give depositions. Viacom, meanwhile, wants Google heads Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt. [Reuters]
• Apparently unsatisfied with the legal battles waged against his brother, daughter and son, Sumner Redstone also plans to slap his wife with divorce papers.
• Bourne Ultimatum rakes in $70.1 or $69 million in its opening weekend, depending on how much you care.
• Rupert Murdoch promises: "I won't meddle any more than [NYT publisher] Arthur Sulzberger does." In other words, we're all screwed.
Aww, have Sumner Redstone and daughter Shari patched things up? Well, likely not. After the Viacom chief's comments last month – that Shari was contributing nearly nothing to the company – the twosome did meet up on Wednesday night at Il Postino to celebrate Viacom's successful quarter (where successful = profit declined from last year). But they arrived separately and dined at opposite ends of the table. Which pretty much means daddy still wants Shari's 20 percent stake in the CBS- and Viacom-controlling National Amusements.
Remember that cheesy CNN Money article we made fun of told you about last week? The one that was over-the-top effusive, and this-close to saying "I am madly in love with Les Moonves and want to have, like, 10,000 of his babies" and, um, conservatively titled "Everybody Loves Les?"
Well, we just found another person who really loves Les! It's mogul (and consummate family man) Sumner Redstone, an otherwise grumpy old miser who was nonetheless dancing on the ceiling during the conference call announcing CBS' second-quarter results.
A giddy Sumner Redstone, CBS’s chairman, gushed about the performance of CBS and raved about the company’s CEO Leslie Moonves. Redstone called Moonves “the best executive in the media industry” and raved about the “smart strategic moves” that CBS made to “position itself in the digital landscape,” referring to several notable acquisitions as well as the establishment of an online network to syndicate CBS content.
Redstone then celebrated CBS' incredible second-quarter gains by toasting to Moonves' performance, raising a glass for continued success, and trying to get his daughter (and presumed successor) forcibly evicted from the boards of both CBS and Viacom because he's a crazy, megalomaniacal control freak.
• Tom Snyder dies, and with him dies the legacy of the funny late-night comic.
• The Bancroft family still divided on whether or not to sell their company to an sinister old man who has deep pockets and no soul.
• Redstones continue to hate, sue and publicly debase one another.
• In moving to CNN, Campbell Brown becomes one of only three women currently hosting her own primetime cable news show, and joins the illustrious ranks of Greta "Legs" Van Susteren and Nancy "Crazypants" Grace.
• Less than a week after getting publicly lambasted by Bill Keller of the NYT for shoddy reporting, Slate's Jack Shafer wonders whether disgraced journalists should get a second chance. How topical!
• Do not hang out with Dori Cooperman unless you want to end up with a botched lypo job, coke in your pants or a Range Rover that runs people over.
• Angelina Jolie is reportedly depressed that her black-facey impression of Mariane Pearl was a box office flop.
• Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow are getting back together…for some boring political drama that you probably won't bother to go see.
• There's something kind of awesome about the Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons family reunions. Typically, it's the "I'm too old to pretend I ever loved this giant, giraffe of a woman" expression on Russell's face.
• Sumner Redstone is being sued by his son, Michael and is currently feuding with his daughter, Shari, but his brother Edward is totally not crazy at all.
• Congratulations to Kelly Rowland, who has finally learned to begrudgingly accept the color of her skin.
• Apparently, naming your kid "Jermajesty" isn't normal even if your name is Jermaine Jackson. [via Us]
Sumner Redstone boots daughter Shari from the possibility of taking over when he's gone. If Sum keeps going this route, his legacy will end up in the hands of … Murdoch.
Sirius head honcho Mel Karmazin may be taking his diplomacy cues from his lewd—but lucrative—DJ, Howard Stern. And, like his egotistical radio host, Karmazin seems to enjoy inexplicably airing his private grievances in an unsolicited public forum. Which might explain this bizarre, unrestrained rant about Karmazin's hate-hate relationship with media mogul Sumner Redstone.
[Karmazin] tells Nancy Hass in Conde Nast's new business magazine Portfolio, on stands today, about board meetings with his nemesis, [Redstone]. "Oh, they were fun. While I was there, the Osbournes were on MTV, and I will tell you, Sumner and I were far, far more interesting to watch. … I knew from the beginning what/who he was: a controlling shareholder." When Hass asks if Karmazin learned anything from Redstone, he pauses but a moment and answers, "Nothing good that I can think of."
ZING!
You better watch your step, Redstone. Because, first comes the "dis" in the premiere issue of Portfolio. Then comes the snide blind item insinuating that you're just another cheap-suit wearing billionaire crybaby. Which means the purportedly unbiased (yet largely unflattering) New Yorker profile can't be far behind.
• Lydia Hearst-Shaw would much rather prance around in an itsy-bitsy gold bikini than do something totally unfun, like, say, running a newspaper.
• Katie Couric's lackluster ratings can all be explained by…the "triangle hand" thing.
• Bill Clinton accuses the NYT of hating Hillary. The Times insists they like Hill, but admit they find her "a bit frigid."
• The LAT hires prankster/producer Brian Grazer, raising two questions. #1: Why? And, #2: How long until Grazer slips a framed picture of himself onto their mantle?
• Meanwhile, former LAT publisher takes a job under Ron Burkle, promises not to make any "more like Ron URKEL" jokes.
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Billionaires, schmillionaires. We get it: The rich are getting richer, and that mantra about "mo' money, mo' problems" seems to be quite the fib. With Forbes' annual list of billionaires coming out (178 new mega-rich added this year!), it's only natural to poke around the roster to see who moved, who shaked, and who "leapfrogged." Especially where it counts:
It was a positive year for News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch as he increased his worth from $6.5 billion to $9 billion and leapfrogged CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. chairman Sumner Redstone in the standings, who saw a $300 million increase in net worth to $8 billion.
We believe the proper term for celebration is … booyah.
• Was it even a question what the front page of today's NYDN would look like?
• More O.J. Simpson book and special cancelation fall out, but let's just call it what it is: News Corp. lost its balls.
• The children of murdered NYT reporter David Rosenbaum file a $20 million lawsuit against the hospital that allegedly ignored the gunshot victim until it was too late.
• CBS finally grows a pair and defends Janet Jackson's nip slip in court.
• Sumner Redstone faces mutiny in the family, with a lawsuit from nephew Michael on charges the media titan stole from a trust.
• Simon Dumenco gives thanks to all those who gave him something to gripe about.
While he feels no sorrow over firing Tom Freston, Viacom chieftan Sumner Redstone is picking out friendship bracelets for Les Moonves, who he's said to be very happy with how he's running things at CBS.
"I could not be any more pleased with everything that Les and his team have achieved," Redstone, who is chairman and controlling shareholder of both Viacom and CBS, gushed to Wall Street analysts yesterday on a conference call to discuss CBS' quarterly results. "In Les we have the best executive in the media industry."
Ah hah! So that's how one fawns over their top underlings at CBS. Because for a minute there, we thought throwing them under a moving bus, driven by a drunk Mel Gibson, was the way things were done.
• For the right price, you can be the next Dr. Troy bimbo. [TMZ]
• When the father of David Banda wouldn't accept cash for his son, Madonna took that as a further sign she should runaway with the boy. [NYDN]
• Anna Nicole Smith, hospitalized with pneumonia, opts to be treated at the same hospital where her son died. [AP]
• J. Lo's flack No. 1 priority is to denounce pregnancy rumors. [R&M]
• Meanwhile, Britney Spears post-baby is down to a size 6, according to In Touch Weekly's measuring tape. [Scoop]
• Add Barbara Davis to the growing list of Sumner Redstone enemies. [P6]
• In a surprising twist of fate, it was Whitney Houston who wowed at Barbara Davis' annual Carousel of Hope ball, while Ivana Trump had to be removed for being a wee bit too intoxicated. [R&M]
• X17 leads the paparazzi and tabloid charges in a possible lawsuit against blogger Perez Hilton. [Radar]
• Angelina Jolie readies the legal clan to sue the director of a Cambodian charity she's accusing of stealing funds. [Reuters]
• Madonna's adopted baby hopeful David is already joining the Kabbalah cult. [Scoop]
• Scientologists can aim their thetan meters at Paula Redstone, who planted the sour seed on Tom Cruise that eventually brought Sumner's distaste. [Page Six]
• Roger Friedman claims he had the Reese Witherspoon-Ryan Phillippe breakup scoop weeks ago — but decided not to run it. [Fox 411]
• No, Oprah will not be president, and neither will George Clooney. Can Democrats please get their shit together and just try to focus on finding a candidate that actually wants to run the country? [AP]
• Cigarettes aren't food? But, wait — what? Seriously? [Lowdown]
• If Ashlee Simpson can see her parents' house from her house, we assume Joe Simpson spends his day taking paparazzi photos into her bedroom window. [Mollygood]
• Lindsay Lohan's super plan to get her man back totally blew up in her face. A lesson to all girls everywhere: making out with Paris Hilton's ex is not the best way to get boys to like you. [Page Six]
• Sumner Redstone will be making $1 million a year instead of $1.75 million a year. What a truly humbling sacrifice. [NYT]
Magazines aren't the only place where top-level shifts go down. Today, Viacom (owner of much-in-the-news Paramount) announced Tom Freston, its chief of 26 years, has stepped down and will be replaced Philippe Dauman. Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone's memo to staffers, after the jump. The real reason for Freston's departure, soon to come.
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You may think Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch are the sexiest media executives out there, but they aren't the highest paid. Nah, that superlative goes to Comcast's chief Brian Roberts, whose annual earnings chime in at $33.5 million.
Among those trailing (not so far) behind him:
• Cox Communications CEO James Robbins: $29.4m
• Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone: $28.3m
• News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch: $23.6m
• Disney CEO Robert Iger: $11.9m
By the absence of Jason Binn, it's clear AdAge doesn't track the earnings of Niche Media.
• Dick Cheney is the original source of the Valerie Plame leak, despite what the veep's chief of staff Lewis Libby told a federal grand jury. Scooter says he got the name from journalists, while some legalese leakers say it was Cheney who informed his wingman. (And then the game of telephone stopped when Sally's mom made the girls turn the lights off.) [E&P]
• We heard over the weekend that Wenner Media was dropping its book division entirely, but now it turns out it's just department chief Bob Wallace who, along with his assistant, is out the door (who, it's no surprise to share, we hear has "long been unhappy" with the gig). The publishing unit will stay on, but only because its ties to Disney's Hyperion Books allow Jann Wenner to maintain control of a media "empire." And just when Wallace actually got a staff! [WWD]
• Don't get the wrong idea: When Viacom splits itself into two major units, chairman Sumner Redstone doesn't plan on exiting, nor (he says) did he ever give that impression. Instead, he'll help fuel ego battles between Tom Freston and Les Moonves. [NYDN]
• Three hours of American Morning just isn't enough, so CNN is cutting Daybreak from the 9-10am slot for a fourth hour of O'Brien Squared chatter. [TVNewser]
• Meredith's purchase of five magazines from Gruner + Jahr might actually have been a wise decision: first quarter profits are up 11 percent. Morale, meanwhile, hovers at Conde Nast levels. [Des Moines Register]
• As expected, David Lee Roth is taking over Howard Stern's West Coast market on Infinity, while Adam Corolla mans the East Coast gig. Stern, fresh off learning his studio would be outfitted with waterproof walls, is already disinterested. [SmartMoney]
• Diane Sawyer is not taking over Peter Jennings' World News Tonight gig, lest you think a major media company would put a woman in such a commanding position. For the record: We said "woman," not Elizabeth Vargas. [Houston Chronicle]
• Does anyone want the top spot at Men's Journal? Zinczenko? Foxman? Essex? Bueller? [WWD]
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