Latest news with #thyroidcancer
Fox News
4 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Paramount controlling shareholder Shari Redstone diagnosed with thyroid cancer
Media mogul Shari Redstone, CBS parent Paramount's controlling shareholder, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. "Shari Redstone was diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this spring. While it has been a challenging period, she is maintaining all professional and philanthropic activities throughout her treatment, which is ongoing. She and her family are grateful that her prognosis is excellent," Redstone's spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The 71-year-old has frequently been in the news this year as she seeks the Trump administration's approval of a multibillion-dollar planned merger with Skydance Media and has given lawyers the green light to settle President Donald Trump's election interference lawsuit against CBS News, although no deal has been reached. Redstone wanted the opinion of doctors "about two months ago after experiencing fatigue and other symptoms," according to The New York Times, which first reported the diagnosis. She underwent surgery in May. The Times noted that she was quickly diagnosed and surgeons removed her thyroid gland but were unable to remove all the cancer cells because they'd spread to her vocal cords. Redstone controls more than three-quarters of Paramount's Class A voting shares through National Amusements, the company she took control of in 2016 when her media mogul father, Sumner Redstone, was deemed too incapacitated to run the company. He died in 2020. Redstone, who recused herself from settlement discussions related to the Trump lawsuit in February, isn't thrilled with being tied up in litigation with the sitting president and wants to get things resolved. Fox News Digital confirmed last week that Trump rejected a $15 million offer to settle his lawsuit. The talks are ongoing, but the president's legal team is demanding at least $25 million and an apology from CBS News. Many industry insiders believe the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will wait until the lawsuit is in the rearview mirror before deciding if the planned merger with Skydance Media will be approved. Redstone is set for a significant windfall if she's able to flip Paramount to Skydance. Bloomberg reported last year that she would receive $180 million in severance on top of the roughly $350 million she would pocket from the merger. Skydance Media CEO David Ellison, who would take control of CBS as head of the newly formed Paramount Skydance Corp. if the merger is finalized, was aware of Redstone's cancer diagnosis, according to the Times.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
CBS owner Shari Redstone reveals cancer diagnosis amid Trump lawsuit
Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone (pictured) revealed she has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer amid her company's legal battle with Donald Trump. Redstone, 71, is a key decision maker at the media giant and is looking to settle with the president while she works to secure a corporate merger. While surgeons removed her thyroid gland, some cancer cells remained as they had spread to her vocal cords. 'She is maintaining all professional and philanthropic activities throughout her treatment, which is ongoing. She and her family are grateful that her prognosis is excellent,' Redstone's spokesperson Molly Morse said. Redstone kept her diagnosis private, sharing it only with a tight circle of relatives, close friends, and advisers including David Ellison, the Skydance head and tech heir, whose company is set to purchase Paramount and her family's stake in the company. Her diagnosis comes as Paramount is preparing for the $8.4 billion merger with Skydance while the company is also looking to settle a lawsuit with Trump. The 79-year-old president filed a lawsuit against CBS News in October 2024, accusing the network of manipulating the American public by deceptively editing the interview in a way that favored Kamala Harris and damaged his own image. Redstone wants to settle to stay on good terms with the President while waiting for FCC approval of a major deal and offer him $15 million, according to reports. Insiders fear a payout, estimated to be up to $50 million, could be seen as a 'bribe' amid her plan to sell Paramount and CBS News, which is currently being reviewed by Trump's Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Meanwhile, the FCC has delayed approval of Redstone's plan to sell Paramount and CBS News to Skydance, an independent film company. Redstone's high-stakes decision comes amid warnings from both media insiders and high ranking Democrats like Bernie Sanders, who has also warned there could be further legal risks around settling the case against the backdrop of the Skydance deal. Network insiders fear the settlement could backfire if the deal is seen as a payoff or bribe. Paramount's insurance doesn't cover bribery claims, despite typically protecting board members and executives from being held personally liable. Both the board and Redstone could face shareholder lawsuits, a criminal probe from a Trump-opposing prosecutor, and if Democrats win Congress - endless hearings that could drag this out even further. Paramount maintains that the lawsuit has nothing to do with the $8 billion Skydance merger. 'This lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process,' the spokesperson said in a statement to the New York Post. 'We will abide by the legal process to defend our case.' Despite the warnings, 71-year-old Redstone seems ready to make her official move. With her wealth dwindling as Paramount's stock continues to slide, she's reportedly eager to 'move on with her life', The Post reported. If the deal goes through, Redstone could walk away with $2 billion - ultimately salvaging part of the fortune inherited from her father, late media mogul Sumner Redstone.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Paramount chair Shari Redstone confirms thyroid cancer diagnosis
Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone was diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this spring, a spokesperson for Redstone said in a statement to Reuters on Thursday. After experiencing fatigue and other symptoms, Redstone sought medical help about two months ago and was diagnosed with thyroid cancer the next day. While surgeons removed her thyroid gland, some cancer cells remained as they had spread to her vocal cords, according to the New York Times, which first reported the news on Thursday. 'She is maintaining all professional and philanthropic activities throughout her treatment, which is ongoing. She and her family are grateful that her prognosis is excellent,' Redstone's spokesperson Molly Morse said. Redstone kept her diagnosis private, sharing it only with a tight circle of relatives, close friends, and advisers including David Ellison, the Skydance head and tech heir, whose company is set to purchase Paramount and the Redstone family's stake, NYT added. The diagnosis comes against the backdrop of Paramount preparing for an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, which still requires FCC approval. The company also entered mediation to try and settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump against CBS, reportedly offering $15 million to settle.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Paramount chair Shari Redstone confirms cancer diagnosis amid high-stakes sale linked to Trump's $25 million ‘60 Minutes' lawsuit
Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone has confirmed her thyroid cancer diagnosis amid a high-stakes sale linked to President Donald Trump 's $25 million 60 Minutes lawsuit. The diagnosis was made about two months ago, but hadn't been revealed until a spokesperson for the media executive broke the news to multiple outlets on Thursday. Redstone was diagnosed after experiencing symptoms including fatigue. Her thyroid gland was removed, but some of the cancer cells had spread to her vocal cords, according to The New York Times, which first reported the diagnosis. Redstone's spokesperson, Molly Morse, said the Paramount chair is being treated with radiation. 'She and her family are grateful that her prognosis is excellent,' Morse said. In the meantime, Redstone will continue to head Paramount. 'While it has been a challenging period, she is maintaining all professional and philanthropic activities throughout her treatment, which is ongoing,' the spokesperson said. a merger with Skydance Media. Skydance agreed to acquire Paramount last July, which would leave the Redstone family without a stake in the company. But the merger still requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Plans for the merger became more complicated last October when Trump sued CBS News, which Paramount owns, and its news program, 60 Minutes. At the heart of the lawsuit, in which Trump is seeking more than $25 million, is an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris the program aired before the 2024 presidential election. Trump's lawyers argue that the editing of a long-winded answer the then-Democratic presidential nominee gave was 'deceitful.' Harris was shown giving two different answers to the same question during a preview of the episode on Face the Nation and when the 60 Minutes episode aired later that day. 60 Minutes fired back, calling Trump's claims 'false' and arguing that they edited the interview to be 'more succinct.' '60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response,' the program said. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Paramount has offered Trump a $15 settlement, citing people familiar with the matter. This prompted Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Ron Wyden of Oregon to write a letter to Redstone, warning the executive that Paramount 'may be breaking the law.' 'Paramount appears to be trying to settle a lawsuit that it has assessed as 'completely without merit,' and moderating the content of its programs in order to obtain approval of this merger. Under the federal bribery statute, it is illegal to corruptly give anything of value to public officials to influence an official act,' the letter read.
CBS News
4 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone diagnosed with thyroid cancer
Shari Redstone, chair of Paramount Global, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, a spokesperson for Redstone confirmed Thursday. "Shari Redstone was diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this spring," the spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. "While it has been a challenging period, she is maintaining all professional and philanthropic activities throughout her treatment, which is ongoing. She and her family are grateful that her prognosis is excellent." No further details were immediately provided. The 71-year-old Redstone is the non-executive chair of the Paramount Board of Directors and the controlling shareholder of National Amusements, Paramount Global's parent company. Paramount Global is the parent company of CBS News. Redstone inherited Paramount from her father, the late Sumner Redstone. The Redstone family has controlled Paramount for several decades. The news comes as Paramount attempts to complete its merger with Skydance Media. The merger has faced complicating factors, most notably President Trump's $20 billion lawsuit against "60 Minutes" over its interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris last year. The deal also requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission. According to numbers from the American Cancer Society, thyroid cancer is approximately three times more common in women than men. So far this year, there have been just over 44,000 cases diagnosed in the United States, according to the ACS. Of those, about 31,350 were in women.
