sugarman also is seeking to be elected to media general 's board along with his allies , dallas billionaire harold c. simmons and david gotterer , vice chairman of the two sugarman companies that control the media general stock , barris industries inc. of beverly hills , calif. and giant group ltd. of harleyville , s.c. media general last week launched its own newspaper ad attack in which it urged shareholders to back the company 's slate of class a directors .