An instant New York Times bestseller • Nominated for the Financial Times and Schroders Business
Book of the Year AwardAddicted to Succession? Well here's the real thing. - The Hollywood
ReporterJaw-dropping . . . an epic tale of toxic wealth and greed populated by connivers and
manipulators.” —The New York Times Book Review Editors’ ChoiceThe shocking inside story of the
struggle for power and control at Paramount Global the multibillion-dollar entertainment
empire controlled by the Redstone family and the dysfunction misconduct and deceit that
threatened the future of the company from the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists who first
broke the newsIn 2016 the fate of Paramount Global—the multibillion-dollar entertainment
empire that includes Paramount CBS MTV Nickelodeon Showtime and Simon & Schuster—hung
precariously in the balance. Its founder and head ninety-three-year-old Sumner M. Redstone
was facing a very public lawsuit brought by a former romantic companion Manuela Herzer—a
lawsuit that placed Sumner’s deteriorating health and questionable judgment under a harsh
light. As one of the last in a long line of all-powerful media moguls Sumner had been a
relentlessly demanding boss and an even more demanding father. When his daughter Shari took
control of her father’s business she faced the hostility of boards and management who for
years had heard Sumner disparage her. Les Moonves the popular CEO of CBS felt particularly
threatened and schemed with his allies on the board to strip Shari of power. But while he
publicly battled Shari news began to leak that Moonves had been involved in multiple instances
of sexual misconduct and he began working behind the scenes to try to make the stories
disappear. Unscripted is an explosive and unvarnished look at the usually secret inner workings
of two public companies their boards of directors and a wealthy dysfunctional family in the
throes of seismic changes from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists James B. Stewart and
Rachel Abrams. Through the microcosm of Paramount whose once victorious business model of
cable fees and ticket sales is crumbling under the assault of technological advances and whose
workplace is undergoing radical change in the wake of #MeToo Black Lives Matter and a
distaste for the old guard Stewart and Abrams lay bare the battle for power at any price—and
the carnage that ensued.
