The lawsuit is a move by the media company and its independent directors
to reject the suggested merger, prevent Ms. Redstone from retaliating
against the board for refusing the deal, and reduce National Amusements’ voting
power.
Filed Monday in the Chancery Court in Delaware, the suit seeks to block
National Amusements and its president, Ms. Redstone, from forcing a recombination of CBS and Viacom, which are both
controlled by the Redstones. Ms. Redstone has been advocating such a combination over the past two years.
CBS and the five independent directors on its special committee say they
filed the suit to prevent National Amusements, media mogul Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari “from
breaching their fiduciary duties and harming the Company and its public
stockholders.”
The special committee, which was formed to evaluate a potential merger, said it has decided the
proposed Viacom deal isn’t in the best interest of CBS shareholders and says
Ms. Redstone poses “a serious threat of imminent, irreparable harm” to public
stockholders.
In response, National Amusements said it would vigorously defend itself
in court.
“National Amusements (NAI) is outraged by the action taken by CBS and
strongly refutes its characterization of recent events,” the holding company
said in a statement. “NAI had absolutely no intention of replacing the CBS
board or forcing a deal that was not supported by both companies.”
Viacom declined to comment.
National Amusements controls CBS through a dual-class stock structure
that gives National Amusements 80% voting power despite only owning about 10%
of the company’s Class A and Class B shares. CBS said it has scheduled a board
meeting this Thursday to consider issuing a dividend of voting Class A shares
to all stockholders that would reduce National Amusements’ voting power to only
17%.
“The contemplated dividend would dilute NAI’s voting control so that Ms.
Redstone is no longer able to block the CBS Board from considering appropriate
corporate strategies in the best interest of all stockholders,” the suit said.
Reducing the voting power would also prevent Ms. Redstone from replacing CBS’s
independent board members.
CBS says the issuance of the stock dividend, which wouldn’t reduce any
shareholders’ economic ownership, is “expressly permitted” by the company’s
charter. If the dividend goes through, all CBS shareholders would then be able
to elect the board of their choice, the lawsuit states.
CBS is seeking a temporary restraining order to block Ms. Redstone from
making any changes to the board before Thursday’s meeting. The company’s annual
meeting is Friday where some board members will be elected.
The lawsuit took Ms. Redstone by surprise, according to a person
familiar with her thinking.
“This precipitous lawsuit, and the efforts of CBS management and its
‘independent’ directors to wrest voting control from NAI, are outrageous,”
National Amusements said in the statement.
The holding company said it “believes CBS’s action today was
precipitated following NAI raising specific concerns about incidents of
bullying and intimidation in relation to one CBS director, dating back to
2016.” National Amusements didn’t identify the director, but a person familiar
with the matter said the director in question sits on the CBS board’s special
committee.
Ms. Redstone has discussed her concerns about this board member with CBS
over the course of many months, and there was a provisional agreement that the
board member would either not be part of the merged company or, in the event of
no deal, be removed from the CBS board, according to a person familiar with the
matter. As the merger talks dragged on and CBS’s annual meeting loomed, Ms.
Redstone brought up her concerns about this board member again at the end of
last week, the person said.
CBS declined to comment on National Amusements’ accusation.
Monday’s lawsuit is far from the first time that a power struggle over
the Redstone family’s media empire has played out in court. Ms. Redstone rose to prominence two years ago in the wake of a power struggle at Viacom that led to the ouster of
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman and the replacement of some board members.
The legal proceedings around that fight also raised questions aboutMr. Redstone’s mental capacity.
Soon after gaining power, Ms. Redstone pushed for the exploration of a merger
between CBS and Viacom, which her father had split apart in 2006. After CBS
proved reluctant unless it was granted various measures of control, National
Amusements soon dropped the effort. It rekindled its merger efforts earlier
this year in the wake of the announcement of several large media acquisitions.
CBS’s suit accuses Ms. Redstone, who is vice chairman of CBS and Viacom,
of interfering with governance at the company and putting a lawyer who
represents the Redstones on its board. She is also accused of seeking to
replace CBS Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves and threatening
to overhaul the CBS board so she can force a merger with
Viacom.
Ms. Redstone also told a potential acquirer of CBS to not make an offer,
“thereby depriving CBS stockholders of a potentially value-enhancing
opportunity that the Board or Special Committee should have been free to evaluate,”
the suit said.
The five independent directors, who are listed as plaintiffs on the
lawsuit along with CBS Corp., are Bruce S. Gordon, Gary L. Countryman, Charles
K. Gifford, Linda M. Griego and Martha L. Minow. If the dividend is approved,
these directors said in court documents, they are prepared to step down from
the board and not stand for re-election.
Since beginning to contemplate a merger earlier this year, CBS, Viacom
and Ms. Redstone have been clashing over issues of leadership and valuation.
CBS wants management control of the combined entity, while Ms. Redstone
had advocated that Viacom CEO Bob Bakish have a significant operating role. Ms. Redstone had recently backed off her demand for an executive role for
Mr. Bakish that would put him in consideration to be the successor to Mr.
Moonves, instead suggesting that he be offered a board seat, according to
people familiar with the matter. A board seat for Mr. Bakish was also a
non-starter for CBS, according to people close to the company.
CBS shares have declined since talks were rekindled with Viacom, as
shareholders question the financial benefits of acquiring Viacom’s assets,
which include about two dozen cable networks and the Paramount Pictures studio.
Viacom’s stock has underperformed in recent years as the media company tries to
improve its channels’ ratings and relationships with pay-TV distributors as
well as rebuild struggling Paramount.
CBS shares rose 2.8% in midafternoon trading Monday, while Viacom
dropped 7.1%.