Boardroom Battles and Car Washes

The Viacom drama.

What is the point of owning the majority of the voting stock of a public corporation if you can't make it do what you want? Sumner Redstone's holding company, National Amusements Inc., isn't so pleased with the management of Viacom Inc., a public company that it controls. (It owns only about 10 percent of Viacom's total stock, but 79.8 percent of its voting Class A shares.) In particular, National Amusements has fought with Viacom's board and management about the possibility of selling Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Viacom. The fight has gotten ugly, so yesterday National Amusements delivered a written notice that it was kicking out five board members, including the chief executive officer, Philippe Dauman. And those board members replied by saying: No, you can't get rid of us. The two sides are suing one another, hoping a court will figure it out.