Billionaire Sumner Redstone dies aged 97

Billionaire Sumner Redstone, chairman and chief executive officer of National Amusements, has died at the age of 97, ViacomCBS said on Wednesday.

For nearly 30 years, Redstone led Viacom as executive chairman of the board following National Amusements Inc's acquisition of a controlling stake in the company in 1987, ViacomCBS said.

In December 2019, CBS Corp and Viacom Inc completed their merger, reuniting media mogul Sumner Redstone's U.S. entertainment empire.

The combined entity, ViacomCBS Inc, is controlled by National Amusements Inc, the holding company owned by billionaire Sumner Redstone and his daughter, Shari.

The deal combines the CBS television network, CBS News, Showtime cable networks with MTV Networks, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and the Paramount movie studios. Together, they own more than 140,000 TV episodes and 3,600 film titles.

(Cover: File photo of Sumner Redstone. /Reuters)

Source(s): Reuters