Sumnerdämmerung

The trial that tested the mental competency of Sumner Redstone, the ninety-two-year-old media mogul and former chairman of Viacom and CBS, had promised weeks in which prurient details from a family drama reminiscent of the eighties prime-time soap “Dynasty” would be aired. Instead, the trial began on a Friday and concluded the following Monday, ending for the moment the attempt by Manuela Herzer, Redstone’s former companion, to be named his “health agent” and empowered to make his medical decisions. Short as it was, the trial demonstrated how a lifetime of aggressive, acquisitive behavior can play out near the end for a C.E.O. whose faculties are waning at a speed disproportionate to his power. Given that Redstone’s physical condition affects a global media conglomerate that employs, in total, some twenty-five thousand people, the implications are serious.

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A Cure For Rupert Murdoch’s Ills: Call Sumner Redstone!