Controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone will relinquish his voting role on Viacom Inc.'s board following the company's 2017 annual shareholder meeting but will retain the title of chairman emeritus, Viacom said in a regulatory filing.

According to a source cited by The Hollywood Reporter, Redstone requested that he not be re-nominated as a voting member. "Viacom is indebted to Sumner Redstone for his decades of extraordinary leadership," a company representative reportedly said in a statement. "Our directors are grateful for his continued dedication to the company and his contributions as Chairman Emeritus."

According to a definitive proxy statement filed Dec. 16, the company is seeking the election of 10 director nominees at its annual meeting of shareholders Feb. 6, 2017. The nominees are Bob Bakish, Cristiana Falcone Sorrell, Kenneth Lerer, Thomas May, Judith McHale, Ronald Nelson, Deborah Norville, Charles Phillips Jr., Shari Redstone and Nicole Seligman.

National Amusements Inc., the private holding company controlled by the Redstone family, intends to vote all of the shares of Class A common stock held by it and its wholly owned subsidiaries in favor of the recommendations of the board at the stockholders meeting. The board has recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the director nominees.