A Delaware judge ruled this week that former Viacom shareholders may pursue a lawsuit accusing Shari Redstone of engineering a"patently unfair" merger that created ViacomCBS Inc so she could become a media magnate like her late father, Sumner Redstone.
Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights of the Delaware Chancery Court said it was reasonable to infer from the plaintiffs' claims that the December 2019 merger was"not entirely fair," and that Redstone used it"to consolidate her control of Viacom and CBS at the expense of the Viacom minority stockholders.
In his 76-page decision, Slights let the shareholders pursue breach of fiduciary duty claims against Redstone, National Amusements and Viacom directors who negotiated the merger. Slights' decision is dated Tuesday. Lawyers for the defendants and the shareholders did not immediately respond on Thursday to requests for comment.