Before AT&T Inc. Chief Executive Randall Stephenson set his sights on Time Warner Inc., he expressed interest in acquiring CBS Corp. and met with Shari Redstone, the executive whose family controls the media company, according to people familiar with the situation.

At the New York meeting in 2016, Redstone, president of National Amusements Inc., which controls about 80% of the voting stock of CBS and its sister media company Viacom Inc , told Stephenson she wasn’t interested in a deal, the people said.

Redstone didn’t inform the CBS board or its chairman and chief executive, Leslie Moonves, of Stephenson’s approach, people close to CBS say.

Moonves learned of AT&T’s interest a few weeks later from Stephenson after AT&T made its bid for Time Warner, people familiar with the discussion said. Moonves was upset Redstone had kept him out of the loop, the people said.

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Before Time Warner, AT&T had expressed interest in buying CBS

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