#2. Sumner Redstone and David Geffen
After Redstone's Viacom purchased Geffen's Dreamworks Studios in 2006 for
$1.6 billion, there should have been peace in moguldom. Dreamworks, the
studio founded by Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, delivered
a string of hits — Dreamgirls, Blades of Glory, Transformers — and Viacom's Paramount Pictures ably marketed and distributed them. But
Dreamworks execs, reportedly experiencing sellers' remorse, felt Paramount
was taking credit for their successes. High-net-worth backbiting ensued.
Things really got ugly when a Viacom exec told investors that losing
Spielberg would be "completely immaterial" to his corporation. It may sound
mild, but in Hollywood this is tantamount to calling Mother Teresa a little
bit loose.