Sumner Redstone

Peter Bart reports in today's L.A. editions of Variety that Viacom chief Sumner Redstone's relationship with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen is going south.

According to his report-which relies on unnamed sources-the duo could walk in 15 months if their relationship with Mr. Redstone, whose purchase of Dreamworks through Paramount was regarded as a coup in Hollywood, does not improve.

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Sumner Redstone "played down" reports over the last 24 hours that he had becomed estranged from his daughter and once-presumptive heir, Shari Redstone.

But the effect of his words was to confirms suspicions, as Richard Siklos and Geraldine Fabrikant write in The New York Times today, that the 84-year-old Mr. Redstone is preparing a William Randolph Hearst-style legacy: ensuring that his heirs are enriched by his controlling interests in CBS Corporation and Viacom, while media and entertainment professionals take over the running of the businesses.  read more »