Mario Gabelli, the second-largest shareholder in Viacom behind Sumner Redstone, said he believes billionaire John Malone is cooking up a deal for the company.
Malone weighed in on the battle for control of the New York media conglomerate Thursday at Allen & Co.’s exclusive business confab in Sun Valley, saying the company’s assets are undervalued because of all the drama around it.
“They’ve got some great assets, and right at the moment because of the turmoil, they’re substantially undervalued,” the cable mogul told reporters at the annual gathering of media and tech elite. “I think they’ll straighten it out.”
Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman and Redstone’s daughter, Shari Redstone, are locked in a power struggle that will determine the fate of the 93-year-old mogul’s $40 billion media empire after he dies or is deemed incapacitated.
Malone — considered one of the savviest dealmakers in the media space — helped push up Viacom’s shares more than 4 percent and sparked speculation that the notoriously tax-averse investor sees an opportunity.
“John Malone has an angle here. He’s clearly sucking up to Shari,” Gabelli told The Post in an interview. “He’s a tax strategist. He has something in mind that he’s trying to sell National Amusement Inc.”
Malone just wrapped together his investments in TV and movie producer Lionsgate and pay-TV premium network Starz. A global cable programmer like Viacom might be a nice addition.
Like Malone, Shari was hobnobbing at the ritzy mountain retreat in Idaho, where she was spotted with CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. Dauman, who was supposed to attend, decided to skip out as the battle over Viacom escalates.
Dauman has accused Shari of manipulating her father as part of plot to wrest control Redstone’s media holdings. The Viacom CEO claims Redstone isn’t mentally competent and that Shari is behind the moves to oust him from a family trust and the board of National Amusements Inc., which holds Redstone’s stakes in Viacom and CBS.
Gabelli, who runs Gamco Investments and is the biggest non-family shareholder in Class A shares of Viacom and CBS, said he believes Shari has played the better hand and that Dauman must now concede defeat.
“If I were him, I would declare victory and move on,” Gabelli told The Post.
Viacom investors have been unhappy with the company’s performance, sending the shares down 40 percent over the past year. Viacom owns MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, as well as the Paramount movie studio.
In May, Gabelli said Dauman should get six months to try to turn the company around but he’s running out of patience.
Paramount’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of The Shadows” underwhelmed at the box-office, while Viacom’s carriage deal with Dish wasn’t renewed on as favorable terms as initially believed, according to Gabelli.
The investor said he’s no longer invited to the Allen & Co. gathering because “I may have said something that they were making too much money for themselves.”