June 22, 2016 (Shareholders Foundation) - An investor in shares of Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) filed a lawsuit against certain directors at Viacom, Inc. over alleged breaches of fiduciary duties.
The plaintiff alleges that Viacom, Inc is controlled by 93-year old Sumner M. Redstone, who owns approximately 80% of Viacom’s voting Class A common stock through his holding company National Amusements, Inc., but only 10% of Viacom’s equity. The plaintiff claims that the board of directors of Viacom, Inc. has failed to protect the company or the holders of its non-voting Class B common stock from the chaos that would ensue at Viacom when Sumner Redstone inevitable became incapacitated or passed away. The plaintiff claims, among other things, that certain directors have routinely re-nominated Sumner Redstone to serve on the board of directors of Viacom, Inc each year, despite the fact that he has not attended a board meeting in person since 2014, and at that time “dozed and drooled” through such meetings, and that until recently the same defendants have also continued to approve substantial compensation payments to Sumner Redstone even though he was not actually performing any services for Viacom, Inc. The plaintiff says that in essence, the board of directors continued to appease the declining Sumner Redstone or whomever was controlling him at the moment in order to maintain their lucrative positions as directors of the company.

Viacom, Inc. reported that its annual Total Revenue declined from over $13.79 billion in 2013 to over $13.78 billion in 2014 and that its respective Net Income declined from $2.395 billion in 2013 to $2.392 billion in 2014.

Shares of Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) declined from as high as $88.36 per share in July 2014 to as low as $36.32 per share in August 2015.