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Ambassador Sumner Murray Redstone Jr. (born of Redstone Investments Corporation, one of the largest private investment houses in the United States . ADOPTION AND EDUCATION The youngest of billionaire Sumner Redstone 's three children, Sumner Jr. was adopted in 1971 by the Redstones when his adopted father was a relatively late age of 47 years old, so there is a significant difference in age between him and his adopted siblings Brent and Shari. He was brought up in the Jewish religion although he has been rumored to have completed courses run by the Church Of Scientology , encouraged by his friend John Travolta . He attended the prestigious Boston Latin school as had his adopted father. Again like his father, he graduated at the top of his class. He was accepted to Harvard College where he majored in Japanese. He graduated ''magna cum laude'' in 1992 from Harvard University with a BA. He had an active role in the student government as well, and was elected President of the Harvard Democrats and was also elected a delegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention . CAREER He also worked as a volunteer for then Governor Bill Clinton 's primary campaign in Massachusetts, also working in nearby New Hampshire . He continued working for Clinton's Massachusetts campaign until the general election, and was offered a position as an intern and later speechwriter in the Office of Communications in the White House. In September 1993, he left the White House to attend Harvard Law School, graduating with a JD in 1996. While at Law School he also worked on a number of political campaigns in Boston, including the 1994 Congressional elections. He passed the Massachusetts bar exam in 1996 and worked briefly as an Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County Massachusetts . He was also a delegate to the 1996 Democratic National Convention . He moved back to Washington DC late in 1996 where he formed sale.com in a joint venture with AOL Inc., and served as its CEO for several years. In 1998, sale.com had its Initial Public Offering which raised $200 million on a valuation of $800 million. The company became a leading e-commerce site in twenty-seven markets worldwide prior to its merger with AOL in 1999. Redstone left the company just after the merger and was required by the Federal Communications Commission to sell his shares in AOL after its merger with Viacom competitor Time-Warner which generated a profit of $2.5 billion after taxes. Ambassador Redstone accepted an appointment by President Clinton as United States Ambassador to Korea , where he served from July 1999 to March 2001, making him one of the youngest US Ambassadors in history. While still Ambassador he became embroiled in the Marc Rich pardon saga after the Drudge Report disclosed he was one of many referees for Rich who wrote to President Clinton recommending his pardon. Redstone and Denise Rich are believed to be good friends. Like Rich, he was also a large donor to the Clinton Presidential Library . In 2000 he married a young State Department foreign service officer Jane Stephens (in breach of State Department guidelines). They married in Seoul, in its only synagogue. Stephens left the State Department soon after and had triplets in 2004 . Redstone Investments Corporation He returned to Boston in 2001 and established the privately owned Redstone Investments Corporation Inc., which became the largest shareholder in Yahoo! Inc. in 2002 and invested generally successfully in a range of other ventures including NetFlix , which eventually represented serious competition to Blockbuster , a one-time subsidiary of Viacom. Some analysts criticized his investments in ventures seen as competitive with Viacom. Other conflict of interest claims arose of RIC's investments in video games companies such as Electronic Arts and Take 2 Interactive which compete with Redstone Sr's investments in Midway Games . RIC is also the largest shareholder in energy company TXU Inc and a significant shareholder in Apple Inc. The net assets of RIC in 2005 were estimated to exceed $15 billion making Redstone Jr nearly twice as rich as his adopted father and one of the richest men in the world, largely due to dramatic gains in 2004 in Yahoo and TXU's share prices. In 2004, he nearly purchased the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post which was then owned by embattled newspaper baron Conrad Black . From 2001, he was appointed to the boards of several prominent companies, including his father's National Amusements , Viacom , TXU and Electronic Arts . He is also a member of the board of directors of Combined Jewish Philanthropies and of the United Israel Appeal . Personal Controversies In contrast to his father who still lives in the same Boston suburban home he bought forty years ago, Sumner Jr. built what critics labeled Boston's most extravagant home, costing an estimated $80 million and taking two years to complete. Neighbors and local planning officials challenged the size and design of the plans for the property although the disputes were mostly resolved in his favor leading to what critics have said is a grotesquely oversized property for the area. He was also "outed" in a small Boston gay newsletter, although they retracted the claim when Redstone threatened to drag them through the courts in defamation. When his adopted parents Phyllis and Sumner divorced, Sumner Jr. was said to be particularly disappointed in his mother who made a very public series of claims against her then husband. He is believed not to have spoken with his eighty-year-old adopted mother since the divorce. Despite these controversies, he continued an involvement in Massachusetts Democratic politics, being a donor and contributor to John Kerry 's successful primary and unsuccessful general election campaign in 2004. He was again a Delegate to Democratic National Convention in 2004, as was his wife. He is also a major supporter of Senator Joe Lieberman , although he declined to support his run for the Democratic nomination for President. FUTURE Redstone is seen by some as a possible successor to his father as CEO of Viacom although has denied any interest in the CEO's position which he plans to relinquish in 2006. All three children serve on Viacom's board, with Shari taking the most active interest in addition to her duties as President of their father's cinema chain. The older brother Brent seems the least likely. Sumner Jr is often rumored to be considering running for various positions in Massachusetts politics although just as frequently has denied any political ambitions. |
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