Don’t Cry (at the Office)

After successfully closing a $25 million deal with Sony, Anne Kreamer, a senior vice president at the children’s cable channel Nickelodeon, got a call from Sumner Redstone. It was the first time the chairman and majority owner of Nickelodeon’s parent company, Viacom, had ever called her.

“I was anticipating high-fiving and congratulations. Instead, I got eviscerated. He screamed at me for 90 seconds,” says Ms. Kreamer, who believed that Mr. Redstone, who was then planning a takeover of Paramount Communications, was expecting Viacom’s share price to sharply rise as a result of the Sony deal. It didn’t. She cried after the call ended. read more