Bloomberg – The script was so finely tuned, they must have asked the writing department to polish it a bit. Wacky movie star. Losing what few marbles he had in the first place. Lousy movies. Flaggingbox-office appeal. What else could the suits do but fire the loser?
Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom Inc., the parent company of Paramount Pictures, has expertly spun the studio’s decision to end its 14-year relationship with actor Tom Cruise.
Yet, there’s a twist in this tale.
Even if Cruise’s contract was terminated by the studio, he mightn’t mind too much. He may get the backing of some hedge funds, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing Cruise’s business partner, Paula Wagner.
Cruise’s public relations agent didn’t return phone calls requesting a comment.
In the end, the severing of the links between Cruise and Paramount is the perfect symbol of the transfer of power from one kind of suit to another. Old-style corporate ones such as Redstone may well be on the way out, replaced by the newer, younger suits from hedge and private-equity funds.
There was certainly something odd about the very public firing of Cruise.
