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 …
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.
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.
The Redstone media legacy
What do we know about Shari Redstone’s personal life?
Redstone’s unexpected rise in the media and entertainment business sparked intrigue in the woman herself. She is an orthodox Jew and adheres strictly to the kashrut law and the sabbath. Kashrut laws govern dietary observances that Jewish people must adhere to. Per LA Mag, it is common for Redstone to arrive at meetings with her own food and utensils. She is also rarely spotted out at Hollywood restaurants.
Her relatively low profile is vastly different to that of her father, who was described as charismatic and outgoing by many in the industry. Although in his final years, his reputation was also mired in scandals and messy relationships.
Redstone family feuds
Despite their public beef though, when Sumner died in 2020, Shari wrote a moving tribute to her father: “My father led an extraordinary life that not only shaped entertainment as we know it today, but created an incredible family legacy. Through it all, we shared a great love for one another, and he was a wonderful father, grandfather and great-grandfather. I am so proud to be his daughter and I will miss him always.”
Who was Shari Redstone’s husband?
Shari was married to Yitzhak Aharon (Ira) Korff, a Boston-based Orthodox rabbi who is the father of her three children. The couple divorced in 1992.
Her three children – Kimberlee, 41, Brandon, 39, and Tyler, 37 – now serve on the National Amusements board, ensuring the business stays within the family.
Shari Redstone’s charity work
Shari was certainly born into wealth and privilege, but also supports worthy philanthropic causes. Speaking at an event in 2022 celebrating the establishment of the Sumner M. Redstone Endowed Chair in Health Equity, she said, “When I think about my family’s experience, I know how lucky we have been. The reality, however, is that for far too many people, access to high-quality, comprehensive care remains out of reach. And that is a detriment to society as a whole. That is why Mass General’s efforts to eliminate health inequities are so exceptional.”
In Arianna Huffington’s profile of Shari for Time, she wrote, “Shari is a true trailblazer, and whatever she does next, it will be a sequel well worth watching.”
- 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