One of the largest shareholders in Midtown landlord Paramount Group is leaving the board of directors.
The billionaire filmmaker and producer Katharina Otto-Bernstein has decided she won’t stand for reelection at the company’s next annual shareholder meeting, according to a regulatory filing late Friday. Otto-Bernstein has served on the board since Paramount went public in 2014 and is daughter of Paramount founder Werner Otto. She controls 5.6% of Paramount shares, worth $52 million based on the Friday closing price. Family members control 15.4% altogether.
Paramount said Otto-Bernstein’s decision to leave “did not arise or result from any disagreement” with the company and thanked her for her “years of dedicated service.”
Paramount owns 13 million square feet of office space in Manhattan and San Francisco, including Paramount Plaza at 1633 Broadway and 712 Fifth Ave. Some buildings are 25% empty or more and the stock closed Friday at $4.25 a share, about 70% below its pre-pandemic value.
On March 17, Crain’s reported that Paramount had made millions in previously undisclosed payments to companies controlled by its long-time CEO, Albert Behler. Three days later, independent equity-research firm Green Street Advisors urged investors to vote off long-standing Paramount board members.
Last year Otto-Bernstein offered to leave the board after a majority of investors voted to remove her, but the company rejected her resignation.
Otto-Bernstein has produced about 20 films, according to IMDB, including an Emmy-nominated documentary about photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Forbes estimates her net worth is $3.1 billion and said she inherited a minority stake in her father’s Otto Group, with more than 40 companies in retail, real estate and financial services.
Otto-Bernstein couldn’t be reached by phone or email.
