A preliminary settlement between media mogul Sumner Redstone and his former companion Manuela Herzer would pay her more than $10 million in exchange for dropping her suit and ceasing contact with the 92-year-old billionaire, a person briefed on the matter told TheWrap.
The amount was greater than six figures but substantially less than the $70 million she stood to inherit before Redstone removed her from his estate last year, the individual said.
The deal also would also place Redstone in control of his own health care, but his daughter, Shari, and a long-time family friend based in Los Angeles would become his health-care proxy should he become incapacitated, the person said.
Representatives for Redstone and Herzer declined to comment.
The deal remains preliminary; nothing is signed and any settlement would require a judge’s approval, according to the person.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday that the settlement could pay Herzer a figure near $30 million.
The settlement, if finalized and approved, would put to rest a legal spectacle that has gripped watchers in Hollywood and Wall Street. Last year, Herzer sued to be reinstated as the steward of his care. Her case claimed Redstone was like a “living ghost,” unable to follow conversations and sign his own name, and exposed prurient allegations of his sexual appetite.
Redstone’s lawyers rejected her case as an attempt to insinuate herself in his estate after she was removed in October.
It created a distracting sideshow while Redstone morphed his role atop entertainment giants Viacom and CBS. The mogul stepped down as chairman of both companies in February, handing the reins to CEOs Philippe Dauman and Les Moonves. Dauman, who took the reins as Redstone’s “health-care agent” in October when Herzer was removed, was set to be deposed in the case this summer.
Redstone remains the controlling shareholder of both, thanks to supervoting shares that give him roughly 80 percent control over the companies.