At 85, Sumner Redstone is still going strong

Sumner Redstone has done more after the age of 65 than most people do in a lifetime.

As chairman and controlling shareholder of CBS and Viacom, whose television shows and movies are seen all over the world, he says he has no plans to step down any time soon from running the media empire he started building more than 20 years ago.

"People make a mistake when they judge people by their chronological age,” he said. “They should judge them by the way they look, by the way they act, by their achievements, by the way they travel all over the world. That's me.”

Though he recently turned 85, Redstone says he feels “feel as good today as I did when I was 20 years old.”

He’s has stepped back from day-to-day management, but he's always looking for new opportunities — traveling the globe to hawk Viacom's brand in markets like China, Japan and South Korea. He maintains a travel schedule that would be grueling for a man half his age frequently commuting between Viacom Headquarters in New York, and Los Angeles. He even makes the roundtrip in a single day, as he did when we caught up with him at this benefit honoring Viacom's contribution to world health.

“I'm like a puppet,” he said. “I go where they want me to go.”

For many years, the restless billionaire lived in hotel suites. But today, when he's not on the road, he is at the Beverly Hills home he shares with his wife of five years, Paula. On most days he can be found in his study, watching the stock prices of the two companies he loves.

In constant touch with his broker, Redstone orchestrates the share repurchase plans for CBS and Viacom, deciding when and at what price both companies will buy back some of their stock.

In the last year, his net worth has almost been cut in half, to a little more than $4 billion, as shares of CBS and Viacom plummeted. But Redstone, optimistic as always, remains focused on every tick.

“The stock was $45 not so long ago; it's around 36 now,” he said. “Why wouldn't we want to buy stock?"

When he isn't buying his stock, he's trying to buy himself time. Redstone survived a bout with prostate cancer in 2004 and is consumed with prolonging his life. He says he swims and usually rides a bike for 25 to 30 minutes every day.

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