Behind every billionaire there is a story!

Redstone feeds fish as his empire implodes

Sumner Redstone, the media mogul who famously coined the phrase “content is king”, could well achieve another kind of fame very soon as the first major media casualty of the recession. His vast empire - which includes CBS, Viacom, the MTV networks, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks - is crumbling.

To relieve a mountain of debt estimated at $1.6bn (£1.04bn) he is engaged in an embarrassing and desperate bid to save what he can of his conglomerate in a restructuring exercise that has already resulted in him selling off $200m (£130m) of his own controlling stake in Viacom and Paramount.

Then came the fire sale disposal of his controlling stake in the computer games company, Midway Games, creator of the best-selling Mortal Kombat. It was bought for $100,000 (£65,000), with $70m (£45m) of debt, to a low-profile investor.

It will not be the last sale because Redstone’s private holding company, National Amusements, has to refinance about $800m (£519m) before the end of the year. Next on the block is thought to be a large stake in the slot-machine manufacturer WMS Industries. The problem has become acute because of falling share prices at his leading companies, Viacom and CBS.

read the rest published by Guardian here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2008/dec/02/usa