Report: Settlement Near in Redstone Lawsuit

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Lawyers for Sumner Redstone have reached a preliminary settlement with a former live-in companion who claims the 92-year-old media mogul is no longer competent to make health care or financial decision, according to a report by Reuters.

Redstone controls Viacom and CBS and recently stepped down as executive chairman of those companies amid questions of who will run them after he dies.

In the settlement, Redstone’s health care will be overseen by a neutral third party in Los Angeles, Reuters said.

The suit was sparked when Manuela Herzer was removed as the decision maker when Redstone could no longer make his own health care choices. She was replaced by Philippe Dauman, the New York-based CEO of Viacom.

Herzer was also reportedly cut out of Redstone’s will.

Dauman was scheduled to testify in a deposition when the settlement talks began.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.