Sumner Redstone, Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) and CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS),Chairman, has now admitted what he and his daughter, Shari, previously denied -- she will leave Viacom and CBS if Sumner can come up with the money. The Wall Street Journal [subscription required] reports that Shari will sell her 20% stake in the family holding company, National Amusements, for $1.6 billion.

Sumner's disputes suggest that being rich does not necessarily mean being happy. Unless by happy you mean getting into fights with your family and close business associates and then taking those battles into the legal system.

National Amusements owns 100 movie theaters around the world and the Redstone family stakes in Viacom and CBS. And Shari, in a statement issued last night, claimed that National Amusements had been "publicly" valued at $8 billion.

Meanwhile, in a letter posted on the Forbes web site, Sumner suggests that he will buy out Shari at a price that is "acceptable." But he leaves his kindest cut for the last sentence -- pointing out that he gave his children their stakes in National Amusements and it is he "with little or no help on their part" who built "these great media companies."

Will Shari get her $1.6 billion? I doubt it -- probably $1 billion. Will Sumner live happily ever after? No. Although he does seem to enjoy his former school teacher second wife who is younger than Shari. And it wouldn't surprise me to see CBS and Viacom on the block once Shari is out and Sumner departs the scene.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned in this post.