DID EISNER TRY TO SHOOT DOWN IGER'S PIXAR DEAL?

Michael Eisner lobbied members of the board of the Walt Disney Co. as part of an effort to scuttle CEO Robert Iger's $7.4-billion acquisition of Pixar Animation, the New York Post reported today , without citing sources. The newspaper's report did not indicate which board members had been contacted by Eisner, or even how many. It said that he attempted to make the case that the deal was too expensive. In reporting on Eisner's alleged activities, the Post commented that "his open lobbying against [the deal] so soon after passing the reins to Iger is a remarkable breach of corporate decorum and served to undermine his own handpicked successor." A spokesman for Eisner was quoted as saying, "Mr. Iger has Mr. Eisner's complete support in sustaining the growth of Disney."

FEUD ERUPTS IN REDSTONE FAMILY

The son of Viacom and CBS Chairman Sumner Redstone has filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve National Amusements, the family-owned company that holds 71 percent of the voting shares of both Viacom and CBS. In the lawsuit, filed last week but reported first in today's Los Angeles Times, Brent Redstone accuses his father and sister, Shari Redstone, of "misappropriating millions of dollars" from National Amusements and removing him from the board of Viacom in 2003 because he failed to act as a rubber stamp for his father. Previously, the lawsuit alleges, Sumner Redstone had promised that one day Brent and Shari would jointly run the company, but that he had been shunted aside for challenging his father on matters affecting the company while his sister was rewarded with ever loftier positions for supporting him. In a statement, National Amusements said, "It is unfortunate that Brent Redstone is abusing the court system in an attempt to extract a financial settlement in a family dispute."