Shari Redstone Biography: Net Worth, Age, Religion, Husband, Children, Parents, Height

Biography

Shari Ellin Redstone is an American media executive, heiress, and businesswoman born on April 14, 1954, in Boston, Massachusetts.

She is 71 years old. The daughter of legendary media mogul Sumner Redstone and Phyllis Gloria Raphael, Shari grew up immersed in the entertainment industry through her family’s control of National Amusements, a theater chain founded by her grandfather, Michael Redstone, in the 1930s.

She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Tufts University in 1975, then attended Boston University School of Law, where she obtained both a Juris Doctor in 1978 and a Master of Laws in 1980.

Shari built her career through National Amusements, rising to become its president and expanding its international footprint into Russia and Latin America. She later served as vice chairwoman of both Viacom and CBS Corporation before becoming non-executive chairwoman of Paramount Global, the media conglomerate encompassing CBS, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, and Showtime. One of her most significant corporate achievements was engineering the 2019 reunification of Viacom and CBS into a single entity, reversing a split her father had made years earlier.

In July 2024, she announced the sale of her family’s controlling stake in Paramount Global to independent studio Skydance Media, a deal valued at approximately $28 billion. The transaction closed in August 2025, ending the Redstone family’s nearly four decades of control over the media empire and marking a major chapter in Hollywood history.

Beyond the boardroom, Shari co-founded Advancit Capital in 2011, an investment platform focused on early-stage media, entertainment, and technology ventures. She received her first Broadway producing credit for the play Job, which debuted in July 2024. Following the Paramount sale, she took on the role of chairwoman at Israeli entertainment studio Sipur and has remained active through the Redstone Family Foundation, focusing on Black-Jewish cultural relations and combating antisemitism.

In 2020, she was named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2023, Forbes ranked her 37th on its list of the world’s most powerful women. She was also notably recognized as the first woman to hold such a commanding stake in a major U.S. media business, having at one point overseen a portfolio valued at roughly $30 billion.

Shari was previously married to Rabbi Ira A. Korff and has three children. She is an observant Jew and has a brother, Brent Redstone.

President and CEO of National Amusements
Shari Redstone
Wiki Facts & About Data
Real Name:	Shari Ellin Redstone
Stage Name:	Shari Redstone
Born:	14 April 1954 (age 71 years old)
Place of Birth:	Washington, D.C., United States
Nationality:	American
Education:	Tufts University, Boston University School of Law
Height:	168 cm
Parents:	Sumner Redstone, Phyllis Gloria Raphael
Siblings:	Brent Redstone
Spouse:	Yitzhak Aharon Korff (m. 1980–1994)
Boyfriend • Partner:	Not Dating
Children:	Brandon Korff, Tyler Korff, Kimberlee Korff
Occupation:	Businesswoman • Media Executive • Heiress
Net Worth:	$500 million (USD)

Early Life & Education

Shari Ellin Redstone was born on April 14, 1954, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. She is 71 years old.

Raised in a household defined by wealth, ambition, and a deep connection to the entertainment industry, she came of age in an environment that would shape her professional outlook long before she entered the corporate world.

Shari comes from a Jewish family with roots in the American entertainment industry that stretch back several decades. Her grandfather, Michael Redstone (born Michael Rothstein), founded National Amusements in 1936, initially as a chain of drive-in movie theaters in Dedham, Massachusetts. That modest venture would eventually grow into the foundation of one of the most powerful media empires in American history.

Her father, Sumner Redstone, inherited and dramatically expanded that foundation, transforming National Amusements into the controlling vehicle behind media giants including Viacom and CBS Corporation.

Widely regarded as one of the most formidable figures in 20th-century American media, Sumner was known for his relentless competitive drive and iron grip on his business interests. He passed away in August 2020 at the age of 97. Shari’s mother, Phyllis Gloria Raphael, was Sumner’s first wife. Shari has one sibling, a brother named Brent Redstone.

Shari Redstone is an observant Jew. Her faith has been a consistent and openly acknowledged part of her personal identity throughout her life and public career. In her later years, she channeled that identity into philanthropic work, particularly through the Redstone Family Foundation, which focuses on combating antisemitism and fostering cultural ties between the Black and Jewish communities.

For her higher education, Shari enrolled at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree. She then pursued legal studies at Boston University School of Law, earning a Juris Doctor in 1978, followed by a Master of Laws in 1980.

Her legal training gave her a rigorous intellectual framework that would later prove invaluable as she navigated the complex governance structures and corporate battles that defined her ascent in the media world.

Career

Shari Redstone’s professional journey began in earnest when she joined National Amusements in 1994 as executive vice president, stepping into the family business that her grandfather had founded and her father had transformed into a media powerhouse. Her entry into the company marked the beginning of a long and often turbulent path toward assuming full control of one of the most valuable media empires in American history.

By 1999, she had risen to the position of president of National Amusements, a role she would hold for decades, overseeing the company’s day-to-day operations and expanding its international footprint into markets including Russia and Latin America.

In Russia, she helped introduce high-end luxury cinema experiences, and by 2010, she and her partners had acquired the theaters they had built there, forming Rising Star Media, which she chaired and which grew into the country’s top-grossing cinema chain.

Beyond theater operations, Shari increasingly positioned herself at the center of the broader corporate structure her father controlled. In June 2005, she was named non-executive vice chairwoman of Viacom, and six months later joined the board of CBS Corporation, giving her a formal seat at the table across both of the major media companies that National Amusements controlled through its majority voting stake. Through this dual role, she gained deep experience across the full span of the family’s media holdings, which at the time included CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, Showtime Networks, and Paramount Pictures.

As her father, Sumner Redstone’s health declined in the mid-2010s, Shari’s influence over corporate governance grew considerably. When Sumner resigned as executive chairman of CBS in February 2016 following questions about his mental competency, the CBS board offered Shari the position of non-executive chair, which she declined at the time, instead backing Les Moonves as chairman.

At Viacom, the board named Philippe Dauman as chairman, a move that ran counter to Shari’s preferences and set the stage for an intense, very public corporate confrontation. She subsequently moved to remove Dauman from the board, a battle she won, clearing the way for her to reshape the company’s leadership and direction. These corporate struggles, though drawn-out and litigious, ultimately cemented her authority as the dominant decision-maker within the Redstone family’s media holdings.

With control consolidated, Shari pursued the goal she had long championed: reuniting Viacom and CBS Corporation, which her father had split into two separate publicly traded companies in 2006. The path to that reunion was contentious. In 2018, CBS Corporation sued National Amusements, accusing Shari of abusing her voting power by pressing for a merger that CBS leadership opposed.

A settlement was eventually reached, and after renewed negotiations, the merger was formally announced in August 2019. It closed on December 4, 2019, creating ViacomCBS, with Shari serving as chairwoman of the combined entity. The new company was rebranded Paramount Global in February 2022, bringing together under one roof a portfolio that included CBS, Paramount Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, Showtime, and the streaming platform Paramount+.

In parallel with her corporate responsibilities, Shari co-founded Advancit Capital in 2011 alongside her son-in-law, Jason Ostheimer, and established the firm as a venture investment platform targeting early-stage companies in media, entertainment, and technology. The firm reflected her interest in the evolving digital landscape and her belief that traditional media businesses needed to adapt aggressively to survive the streaming era.

In July 2024, Shari announced that she would sell her family’s controlling interest in Paramount Global to Skydance Media, the independent film studio founded by producer David Ellison, in a merger agreement that valued the combined corporation at approximately $28 billion.

The transaction closed in August 2025, forming Paramount Skydance Corporation and bringing to an end nearly four decades of Redstone family control over Viacom and its successor companies. Following the sale, Shari took on a new role as chairwoman of Sipur, an Israeli entertainment studio, while continuing her philanthropic work through the Redstone Family Foundation.

Her career has earned widespread recognition. In 2020, she was named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2023, Forbes ranked her 37th on its list of the world’s most powerful women. She was also the first woman to hold such a commanding controlling stake in a major American media business, having at one point overseen a portfolio valued at roughly $30 billion.

Personal Life

Shari Redstone was born on April 14, 1954, making her 71 years old. She stands at a height of 5 feet 5 inches, or approximately 168 centimeters.

Though her name has long been associated with corporate boardrooms and billion-dollar negotiations, Shari has maintained a notably private personal life relative to the scale of her public prominence.

Her only known marriage was to Rabbi Ira A. Korff, born Yitzhak Aharon Korff, whom she wed in 1980 after a period of dating. The union brought together two figures connected to both Jewish religious life and the business world, as Korff went on to serve as president and director of National Amusements during the course of their marriage.

The couple divorced in 1992, though Korff remained associated with National Amusements for several more years after the separation. Shari has not publicly remarried since the divorce, and no confirmed romantic relationships have been reported in the years that followed. She has kept her personal life largely away from media scrutiny, redirecting public focus almost entirely to her professional work and philanthropic commitments.

From her marriage to Korff, Shari has three children, all of whom have pursued careers with connections to law, real estate, and the family business. Her eldest child, Kimberlee Korff Ostheimer, is a lawyer who previously practiced at The Legal Aid Society.

Kimberlee graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and later earned her law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Her son, Brandon Korff, is a real estate developer who graduated from George Washington University in 2006.

Her youngest, Tyler Korff, followed a path that mirrors both sides of his heritage, becoming both a lawyer and a rabbi. Tyler graduated from Maimonides School and Columbia University in 2008, subsequently earning his law degree from Brooklyn Law School.

Tyler is also among the seven trustees who oversee the family’s stake in National Amusements, underscoring the extent to which Shari’s children remain embedded in the Redstone family’s business legacy.

Net Worth

Shari Redstone’s net worth is estimated at approximately $500 million, according to widely cited financial publications. That figure, however, does not fully capture the scale of the wealth generated by the defining transaction of her later career.

When Skydance Media agreed in July 2024 to acquire National Amusements, the Redstone family’s private holding company, the deal valued the acquisition at $2.4 billion in cash. In addition to that sum, Shari was set to receive approximately $180 million in severance and related benefits as part of the agreement, bringing the total proceeds from the sale considerably above her previously estimated personal net worth.

The bulk of her wealth over the years was tied to her family’s controlling stake in National Amusements, which, through supervoting shares, held majority voting power over Paramount Global and its vast portfolio of media assets. At its peak, that portfolio, encompassing CBS, Paramount Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, and Showtime, was valued at roughly $30 billion, making Shari the first woman to hold such a commanding controlling stake in a major American media business.

Beyond her holdings, she also draws on her investment activities through Advancit Capital, the venture firm she co-founded in 2011, focused on early-stage media, entertainment, and technology companies.

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