People to Watch in 2000

Who will make big news in the business world this year? Who will emerge from relative obscurity to become a major player? To start the new year, Times business reporters selected people from their beats who they believe will be among those to watch in 2000--in Southern California, across the country and around the world. Some are well known, having made big news in previous years. Others are not exactly household names but nevertheless are likely to make a major impact in their fields.

Of course, there’s no way to predict just what’s going to happen in the next 12 months. Nor can any such list be complete--there’s always the come-from-nowhere phenom who’ll surprise everyone. But it’s a good bet that if you follow the fortunes of these 22, you’ll see the top business stories of 2000 unfold.

Sumner Redstone and Mel Karmazin of Viacom, CBS Their $36-billion deal put them at the top of this year’s Entertainment Weekly “Power List” of the most influential people in entertainment.

Assuming regulators approve their deal, which could happen in the first few months of the year, will there be enough power to go around in the coming year when Mel Karmazin’s CBS Corp. is fully digested by Sumner Redstone’s Viacom Inc. and the two moguls start working side by side?

It’s a question a lot of executives in entertainment asked when the deal between the two New York-based companies was announced in September. It would create the second-largest entertainment company with such assets as the CBS television and radio empire, Paramount Pictures, the MTV and Nickelodeon channels, and King World Productions.

Redstone, 76, and Karmazin, 55, are among the most headstrong, opinionated and hands-on executives in entertainment. Redstone, who built Viacom from a chain of movie houses, is known for calling theater managers to hear how films are doing.

Unlike Karmazin, Redstone enjoys the limelight. Gossip columnist Liz Smith refers to him as a “foxy old guy.” Barbara Walters included Redstone in her recent ABC special “The 10 Most Fascinating People of 1999.”

Karmazin shuns publicity, going three decades in broadcasting before holding his first news conference. One of the few topics off limits on Howard Stern’s radio show is criticism of his boss, Karmazin.

Whatever their differences, supporters believe that there will be plenty for each to do.