Science & Tech Quote by Sumner Redstone

Power, in Redstone's world, is the right to say no in public - and make it sound like prudence instead of fear. "The Internet is a powerful way to make lots of money..". opens like a dutiful nod to the new gospel of the era: digital is destiny, growth is infinite, valuations are just a vibe. Then the knife turns: "But we are not going to buy Yahoo!" The punchline is the pivot. He grants the premise, denies the prescription, and in doing so performs a very late-1990s kind of authority: the legacy mogul insisting he can admire the future without paying its sticker price.

The intent is defensive positioning. Redstone, a titan of old media (Paramount, Viacom, CBS), is speaking into a market where portal companies like Yahoo were treated as mandatory acquisitions for anyone who wanted to look "innovative". His refusal signals discipline to shareholders and rivals: we're not chasing froth, we're not going to get played by a hype cycle. The ellipsis matters, too - it mimics a reluctant concession, as if even acknowledging the Internet's profitability feels like swallowing a trend.

Subtext: Redstone understands the Internet's money-making potential but distrusts its mechanisms and, more pointedly, its valuations. Yahoo represented both promise and instability: a gateway to audiences that were slipping away from broadcast, and a reminder that attention was migrating to platforms that didn't need studios or cable systems to thrive. The line lands because it compresses an era's anxiety into a CEO's flex: respect the new king, refuse to bow.