Re: Sumner Boots Mel

[Garrett Wollman <wollman>]

<<On Sun, 03 Feb 2002 16:58:44 -0500, Ron Bello <rbello@BelloAssoc.com> said:

> "National Amusements is a closely held corporation" and controls a large
> portion of Viacom (VIA - NYSE) stock.  IIRC Summer Redstone controls
> 63% of Viacom.  So the real head office is Summer's.

Unraveling the true capital structure of Viacom would take a financial
analyst some time and research.  My impression, just on the basis of
the little information I've been able to find, is that Viacom is
structured similarly to a good number of similar media companies,
where a small group of people (Sumner and his heirs) control most of
the voting power of the company -- and therefore elect the board of
directors -- but outside parties control most of the equity in the
company (and therefore have the most to lose if Sumner does something
stupid).

In a 1994 SEC filing, Viacom Capital I L.P. listed its address as 200
Elm St., Dedham (the same as National Amusements today).  Viacom HQ is
1515 Broadway in New York.  A recent SEC filing states:

> NAI, a Maryland corporation, has its principal office at 200 Elm
> Street, Dedham, Massachusetts 02026.  NAI's principal businesses are
> owning and operating movie theaters in the United States, the United
> Kingdom and South America and holding the common stock of NAIRI,
> Inc., a Delaware corporation.  Mr. Redstone holds 66-2/3% of the
> voting securities of NAI, as a voting trustee of the Sumner
> M. Redstone Trust, and is the voting trustee of an additional 16
> 2/3% of the voting securities of NAI, held by the National
> Amusements, Inc. SER Voting Trust

Another filing, by NAIRI, tells us:

>               (a) Amount Beneficially Owned: NAIRI beneficially owns
>                    93,658,828 shares of Class A Common Stock; NAI
>                    beneficially owns 93,658,828 shares of Class A
>                    Common Stock; Sumner M.  Redstone beneficially
>                    owns 93,658,988 shares of Class A Common Stock*
>                    (including the shares owned by NAIRI).

>               (b)  Percent of Class: 67.7%

This statement was filed January 7, 2000, but in the absence of
additional filings, one would assume that this information is still
correct.

-GAWollman