SHAKE-UP AT VIACOM : PROFILE: DECISION MAKER : Will the Firing Break Redstone’s Stride?

Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone’s decision to oust his right-hand man and heir apparent, Frank Biondi Jr., and take over his duties as chief executive of the company is a puzzle to industry observers and Wall Street analysts.

Whether the 72-year-old billionaire is suited to running the day-to-day operations of one of the world’s largest entertainment companies remains to be seen.

But Redstone has built a remarkable career--and made himself one of the wealthiest men in the world along the way--by making good, if unexpected, decisions. When he was running his family’s chain of movie theaters--building it into the largest privately held theater chain--he made millions investing in Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia Pictures and Orion Pictures.

And when Redstone began buying shares in Viacom back in 1986, the purchases were at first dismissed as just another passive investment. But he went on to buy a majority stake in the company, eventually buying an even bigger prize--Paramount Communications.

A grandfather of five, Redstone was an ardent supporter of cable networks Nickelodeon and MTV--both Viacom properties--when many players failed to see the appeal of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” reruns and obnoxious cartoon characters named Beavis and Butt-head.

Getting into the entertainment business at all was a far-from-clear decision in the 1950s, when he gave up a successful career as an antitrust attorney to take over his family’s movie theater company, National Amusements.

The oldest child of a middle-class Boston family, Redstone graduated first in his class at the prestigious public high school Boston Latin. He went on to Harvard College, where his undergraduate studies were interrupted when he was recruited to a military stint deciphering Japanese codes during World War II.

Redstone returned to Harvard and earned a law degree. He spent six years working for the Justice Department and a Washington antitrust law firm.

But running National Amusements provided Redstone with a convenient opportunity to return to Boston. (Redstone has maintained his home in the Boston suburb of Newton and commuted from New York on weekends.)

A hotel fire in 1979 nearly ended his life. Redstone survived by clinging to a window ledge even as flames licked about him. Nearly two decades later, his most visible scar is a mangled hand.

It was shortly after his near-death experience that Redstone began investing in big-time entertainment and media companies. His string of shrewd business decisions has not been broken since.