Shari Redstone

Shari Redstone
Born	Shari Ellin Redstone 14 4, 1954
Birthplace	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Businesswoman, media executive
Known for	Chairwoman of Paramount Global, President and CEO of National Amusements
Education	Tufts University (BS) Boston University (JD, LLM)
Children	3
Awards	Time 100 Most Influential People (2020)

'Shari Ellin Redstone (born April 14, 1954) is an American businesswoman, media executive, and heiress who served as non-executive chairwoman of Paramount Global (the predecessor of Paramount Skydance Corporation) and as chairwoman, president, and CEO of National Amusements, the private theater chain and holding company through which the Redstone family controlled some of the most recognizable names in American media. Through National Amusements' majority voting power over Paramount Global, Redstone and her family oversaw a portfolio of subsidiaries that included CBS, Comedy Central, BET, Showtime Networks, Nickelodeon, MTV, and the film studio Paramount Pictures. Her decades-long trajectory from working in her father Sumner Redstone's movie theater business to commanding one of the largest media empires in the world was marked by protracted family disputes, boardroom battles, and high-stakes corporate maneuvering. In 2020, she was named to Times list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2023, Forbes ranked her 37th on its list of the "World's 100 Most Powerful Women." In 2025, following the sale of the family's stake in Paramount, Redstone launched a new media venture focused on producing content about Israel.

Early Life

Shari Ellin Redstone was born on April 14, 1954, in Washington, D.C. She is the daughter of Sumner Redstone, the media mogul who built National Amusements from a regional drive-in theater chain into a controlling interest in two of the largest media conglomerates in the world. She grew up within a family whose business interests were rooted in the exhibition side of the entertainment industry, as National Amusements operated a substantial circuit of movie theaters across the United States and eventually internationally.

The Redstone family's involvement in the theater business dated back to Shari's grandfather, Michael Redstone, who co-founded National Amusements. Growing up in this environment, Shari Redstone was exposed from an early age to the operations and economics of the movie exhibition business. Her father Sumner Redstone would go on to acquire Viacom in 1987 and CBS in 1999, transforming National Amusements from a theater operator into a media holding company with vast influence over American popular culture.

The relationship between Shari Redstone and her father was complex and, at various points, publicly contentious. Over the decades, the two clashed over corporate strategy, succession planning, and governance of the family's media holdings. These tensions would become a defining element of her professional life and a frequent subject of media coverage, particularly as Sumner Redstone's health declined in his later years.

Education

Redstone attended Tufts University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree. She subsequently enrolled at Boston University School of Law, where she obtained both a Juris Doctor (JD) and a Master of Laws (LLM) degree. Her legal education provided a foundation for the complex corporate governance battles and negotiations that would characterize much of her career in the media industry.

Career

National Amusements and Movie Theaters

Redstone began her career working within the family business at National Amusements, the privately held company founded by her grandfather Michael Redstone that operated a chain of movie theaters. She rose through the ranks of the company and eventually became its president and CEO, overseeing both domestic and international operations.

Under Redstone's leadership, National Amusements expanded its theater operations internationally. One of her notable ventures was the development of a movie theater business in Russia, an emerging market for cinema exhibition. In 2011, the company sold its Russian theater operations in a deal reported to have generated substantial profit. The sale of the Rising Star Media chain, which operated multiplex cinemas in Russia, was completed for approximately $190 million, representing a significant return on the family's investment in that market.

Redstone also made public statements about the state of the American movie theater industry. In a 2011 interview with Bloomberg, she stated that the United States had too many cinemas and that thousands of theaters should close, a blunt assessment that reflected her deep knowledge of the economics of movie exhibition.

Vice Chair of CBS and Viacom

As the Redstone family's media interests expanded beyond theater exhibition, Shari Redstone took on governance roles at the companies controlled by National Amusements. She served as vice chair of both CBS Corporation and Viacom, the two major media conglomerates in which National Amusements held majority voting control.

Her role at both companies placed her at the center of a series of corporate governance battles that attracted intense media and investor attention. As her father Sumner Redstone aged and his mental competency came into question, questions about who truly controlled the family's media empire became a subject of sustained public interest.

Succession Battles and Corporate Governance

In February 2016, Sumner Redstone resigned as executive chairman of CBS Corporation, a move that underscored the shifting power dynamics within the Redstone media empire. At Viacom, the board named then-CEO Philippe Dauman as the new chairman, replacing the elder Redstone.

The transition set off a protracted power struggle. Shari Redstone, who had long been seen as the heir apparent to her father's media empire, found herself at odds with Dauman and other executives who sought to maintain their own positions of power within the corporate structure. The Financial Times and other publications covered the unfolding battle extensively as it raised fundamental questions about corporate governance, family dynasties, and the future of legacy media companies.

Push to Merge CBS and Viacom

One of Redstone's most significant strategic objectives was the reunification of CBS and Viacom, the two companies that had been split apart in 2006. By early 2018, Redstone was actively pushing for new directors at CBS and renewing her effort to merge the two companies, a move she believed would create a stronger, more competitive media entity capable of competing with the rapidly growing streaming platforms.

The proposed merger faced resistance from CBS management, led by then-CEO Les Moonves, who was opposed to a combination with Viacom. The ensuing boardroom conflict became one of the most closely watched corporate dramas in the media industry. Following Moonves's departure from CBS in 2018 amid sexual misconduct allegations, the path to a merger became clearer.

In August 2019, CBS and Viacom announced they would reunite in a deal that created ViacomCBS (later renamed Paramount Global). The combined company brought together CBS's broadcast network, its news and sports programming, and the Showtime premium cable channel with Viacom's cable networks (including MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, and Comedy Central) and the Paramount Pictures film studio. The merger represented the culmination of years of effort by Redstone and was seen as a validation of her vision for the family's media assets.

Chairwoman of Paramount Global

Following the CBS-Viacom merger, Redstone assumed the role of non-executive chairwoman of the combined company, which was initially named ViacomCBS before being rebranded as Paramount Global. In this role, she oversaw a company that was attempting to navigate the dramatic transformation of the media landscape driven by the rise of streaming services.

Paramount Global launched its streaming service Paramount+ as the company sought to compete with Netflix, Disney+, and other platforms. The transition from traditional cable and broadcast television to streaming proved financially challenging for the company, as it did for many legacy media conglomerates.

Sale of Paramount and the Skydance Deal

By the mid-2020s, Paramount Global faced significant financial pressures, and Redstone began exploring a potential sale or merger of the company. The process of finding a buyer or partner for Paramount became a complex and drawn-out affair, involving multiple potential suitors and negotiations.

The situation was further complicated in 2025 by a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against CBS over its coverage on the news program 60 Minutes. The lawsuit placed Redstone in a difficult position, as she faced what Variety described as an "impossible choice" between protecting the journalistic independence of 60 Minutes and keeping Paramount's sale process on track.

A major profile in The New York Times in August 2025 examined Redstone's decision-making during this period, exploring how the 71-year-old media executive had spent much of her adult life trying to take control of the family's media empire and the choices she faced as it was sold. The article was subsequently analyzed by The Ankler, which described it as a "tell-all" about Redstone's tenure and decisions.

The sale of the family's stake in Paramount was ultimately completed through a deal involving Skydance Media, resulting in the formation of Paramount Skydance Corporation. The transaction marked the end of the Redstone family's decades-long control over one of the largest media empires in the United States.

Post-Paramount Ventures

Redstone's departure from the media landscape following the Paramount sale proved short-lived. Within a month of the sale of the family's stake, she launched a new media venture focused on producing content about Israel. The venture was announced in late 2025, with Redstone seeking to tell what she described as "authentic stories" about the country.

In September 2025, Redstone publicly commented on the state of the news media, stating in an interview with Axios that news outlets need to focus on facts rather than opinion, and that media companies should make their coverage more balanced and fact-based in the current political environment.

Personal Life

Shari Redstone has three children. She is the daughter of Sumner Redstone and has family connections to the broader Redstone family, including her grandfather Michael Redstone, who co-founded National Amusements, and her uncle Brent Redstone.

The relationship between Shari and her father Sumner Redstone was a frequent subject of media reporting over the course of several decades. The two had periods of both closeness and estrangement, and their disputes over the direction of the family's media businesses were documented extensively in the press. A lengthy 2009 profile in Boston Magazine detailed the family tensions under the headline "Trouble in the House of Redstone."

In June 2025, it was reported that Redstone had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, a health challenge she faced while simultaneously navigating the turbulent sale process for Paramount Global.

Redstone has been involved in philanthropic and civic activities. She has served on the board of directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. She also served on the board of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

Recognition

Redstone has received recognition from several prominent publications for her influence and power in the business world. In 2020, she was named to Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, an acknowledgment of her role as the controlling shareholder of one of the largest media conglomerates. In 2023, Forbes ranked her 37th on its list of the "World's 100 Most Powerful Women," reflecting her continued influence over the Paramount Global empire and the broader media industry.

Her career trajectory — from working in the family's movie theater business to leading one of the most significant media mergers of the 21st century — drew sustained attention from business and media journalists. Major publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, the Financial Times, and Bloomberg covered her corporate battles and strategic decisions extensively over the course of more than two decades.

Legacy

Shari Redstone's career is closely intertwined with the story of the American media industry's transformation in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Through National Amusements, she and her family maintained controlling voting power over media properties that shaped American popular culture for decades — from MTV's influence on music and youth culture to CBS's dominance in broadcast news and Paramount Pictures' role in Hollywood filmmaking.

Her push to merge CBS and Viacom in 2019, reuniting two companies that had been separated more than a decade earlier, was one of the most consequential media deals of the era. The merger created a combined entity that attempted to compete with technology-driven streaming platforms, though the company ultimately faced the same financial and strategic pressures that challenged all legacy media companies during this period.

The sale of the Redstone family's controlling stake in Paramount, completed through the Skydance deal, marked the end of one of the most prominent family dynasties in American media. The Redstone family's control of National Amusements and its media subsidiaries spanned multiple generations, beginning with Michael Redstone's founding of the theater chain, expanding through Sumner Redstone's acquisitions of Viacom and CBS, and culminating with Shari Redstone's stewardship of the combined Paramount Global.

Redstone's career also highlighted the challenges faced by women in senior positions in the traditionally male-dominated media industry, as well as the particular complexities of family-controlled businesses in which succession, personal relationships, and corporate strategy are deeply intertwined.