Day-long Conference at Law School Highlights Contributions of Business Book Authors
Wall Street Journal media reporter Keach Hagey, author of The King of Content: Sumner Redstone’s Battle for Viacom, CBS, and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire, was the keynote speaker for a day-long conference highlighting the contributions of business book authors held Friday at the Law School.
Hagey discussed the epic battle that has ensued in Redstone’s company as his health has deteriorated and different factions have vied for control. The story has become a cautionary case study in the perils of poor succession planning in companies where control is completely centralized in a single leader.
Scholars in attendance queried Hagey about some lessons learned from the story, including the problems that ensue when public companies have stock restrictions designed to keep existing leadership in place.
Other books and authors showcased at the New Business Scholarship Conference and discussed by authors and commentators were:
- Selling Hope, Selling Risk (Oxford University Press, 2016), by Georgetown Law Prof. Donald Langevoort
- Better Bankers, Better Banks (University of Chicago Press, 2015), by University of Minnesota Law School Profs. Claire Hill and Richard Painter
- Shareholder-Driven Corporate Governance (Oxford University Press, 2019), by University of Toronto Prof. Anita Anand
- The Rise of the Working Class Shareholder: Labor's Last Best Weapon (Harvard University Press, 2018), by Boston University Law School Prof. David H. Webber
- The Vanishing American Corporation (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2016), by University of Michigan Prof. Jerry Davis.
The event was organized by Prof. Claire Hill, who is planning another conference in the fall.
