A Song of Fire and Chainsaws: Sumner Redstone and Michael F. Price

Zero Sum Empire

First, we realize that we don't know what words like dude, buddy, bro, chief, and man are called. (I looked it up after the show. They're called "colloquial vocatives"). Billionaires in the News this week: Robert F. Smith. Smith is a billionaire who makes his money by investing in enterprise software. He recently pledged to pay off all of the college debt of the Morehouse College's graduating class of 2019. That's great for them, but highly visible philanthropic gifts reinforce the idea that social problems can be meaningfully addressed informally by promoting a sense of noblesse oblige in the super wealthy. Joe makes the very good point that philanthropic giving is chaotic in the sense that it is guided by the whims and experiences of individual rich people. That's a bad way to try and fix social ills. Anyway, Smith is married to a Playboy bunny, opposes closing the carried-interest loophole, and describes his so-called philosophy as "an unusual amalgamation of laissez-faire survival of the fittest and a progressive desire to open up opportunities for the disadvantaged in the world." In many ways, then, he is a pretty typical billionaire. https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/articles/columbia-business/private-equitys-philosopher Next, we talk about our most well-known billionaire thus far: Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements. National Amusements is the parent company of Viacom, CBS, and other media properties. Redstone thinks he's immortal and immune to all disease. Here's a link to the Larry King interview Joe was quoting from. It's a real treat. https://www.milkeninstitute.org/videos/view/a-conversation-with-sumner-redstone-if-you-could-live-forever-what-would-life-be-like?BackURL=%2Fvideos%2F Last, we discuss Michael F. Price, a mutual fund manager who was famous in the 80s for taking over companies and bringing in CEOs to fire everyone, raise the stock price, and create value for shareholders. His most famous exploit was when he hired "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap to run Sunbeam, a small electronics company.