[sumner redstone family]Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images * Media magnate Sumner Redstone, who forged an empire of entertainment companies encompassing CBS, Viacom, and Paramount Pictures, died on August 11 at the age of 97. * His legacy business, ViacomCBS, is worth $16 billion. His personal net worth was estimated by Forbes to be $3 billion. * He is survived by two children, Brent and Shari Redstone. His daughter, Shari, is the steward of much of his media empire. She owns a 20% stake in National Amusements, the family holding company, and is one of seven trustees overseeing Sumner's 80% stake. * For much of the last decade, legal battles brewed over Redstone's trust as he grew older without letting go of his stake. His mental capacity was often a subject in the litigation. His five grandchildren are now the beneficiaries of his trust — but at one point, his will included the two women he lived with after his second divorce. * Here's a look at the Redstone family dynasty. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. SUMNER REDSTONE'S MEDIA EMPIRE DATES BACK TO THE 1950S. John Blanding/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Redstone was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1923. He enrolled at Harvard and graduated in three years, later becoming a US Army cryptography during World War II. After the war, he returned to Harvard for a law degree. He saw success as a lawyer, serving as a special assistant to then Attorney General Tom C. Clark and working as a partner at a law firm. In 1954, Redstone took over National Amusements, a private theater chain that was started by his father. He grew the business, and by the 1980s he was using it as collateral to bid for a cable, broadcast, and entertainment business that had been spun off by CBS in the late '70s: Viacom, home of brands including MTV, Showtime, and Nickelodeon. A little over a decade later, in 1999, Redstone bought CBS itself, in a $37.3 billion deal. Although National Amusements now controlled both Viacom and CBS, the businesses remained separate for decades afterward, and in the 2010s their potential merger became embroiled in a high-stakes legal battle, with a nonagenarian Redstone at the center of it. Into his late 80s and 90s, Redstone vowed to retain control of CBS and Viacom, at one point telling Larry King on CBS: "I have no intention of retiring or dying. I could live and work forever." He was the executive chairman of CBS and Viacom until 2016, and chairman emeritus after that. He notably remained involved deeply involved in the business in his old age — in 2018, he reportedly primarily participated in business dealings by communicating through an iPad equipped with audio clips of him saying "yes," "no," and "f--- you," according to CNBC. AT ITS PEAK, REDSTONE'S EMPIRE WAS WORTH $40 BILLION. TODAY, IT'S WORTH $16 BILLION. THE COMPANY'S HOLDINGS INCLUDE MTV, NICKELODEON, COMEDY CENTRAL, AND PARAMOUNT PICTURES. Joe McNally/Getty Images Redstone died on August 11 at the age of 97. "ViacomCBS will remember Sumner for his unparalleled passion to win, his endless intellectual curiosity, and his complete dedication to the company," Viacom President Bob Bakish wrote in a Wednesday statement. Redstone was known as a ruthless litigator and negotiator. His New York Times obituary noted as much. "I believe in taking every penny off the table," Redstone wrote in his 2001 autobiography. Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey's 2018 book, "The King of Content: Sumner Redstone's Battle for Viacom, CBS, and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire," chronicled Redstone's rise and apparent obsession with immortality and continued control of his empire. His later years were plagued by questions about his health and faculties. Redstone is survived by his son, Brent Redstone, and daughter Shari Redstone, who is now in control of the family dynasty. They are children from his first marriage to Phyllis Raphael. Here's a breakdown of who's who in the Redstone family: SHARI REDSTONE, SUMNER'S DAUGHTER, IS NOW THE STEWARD OF THE REDSTONE MEDIA EMPIRE. Katy Winn/Invision for LA Friendly House/AP Images Variety reported that all of Redstone's stock would be left to his grandchildren, which was disclosed during their divorce settlement. In 2007, after reports surfaced that he was reconsidering his succession plan and wanted to hang onto his power, Redstone publicly addressed his daughter's position and said in a letter to Forbes that his children had nothing to do with building his empire. When Redstone offered to buy out Shari's 20% stake in National Amusements, she rejected the $1 billion offer. Their relationship appeared to recover and her power player status rose in the late 2010s. In February 2016, 92-year-old Redstone gave up his chairmanships of CBS and Viacom after a court-ordered examination by a geriatric psychiatrist. Shari later won a major victory in August 2019, Business Insider's Ellen Cranley reported, when the boards of CBS and Viacom announced a $12 billion deal that would reunite the companies into a new entity, ViacomCBS, with Shari as chairwoman. Now, as chairwoman, she owns 20% of National Amusements and is one of the seven trustees overseeing Sumner's 80% voting stake. She has three children with ex-husband Ira Korff, a rabbi. Each of their children are involved in the family business. "My father led an extraordinary life that not only shaped entertainment as we know it today, but created an incredible family legacy," Shari Redstone told Variety in a Wednesday statement. "Through it all, we shared a great love for one another and he was a wonderful father, grandfather and great-grandfather. I am so proud to be his daughter and I will miss him always." SEE THE REST OF THE STORY AT BUSINESS INSIDER SEE ALSO: * A self-taught designer turned a dated Palm Springs home into something that looks straight out of Santorini, Greece — take a look inside * The world's skinniest skyscraper is almost complete. I toured its first luxury condo — take a look inside the NYC tower that's 24 times as tall as it is wide. * Kylie Jenner just turned 23 years old — and she's already worth $900 million. Take a look at how the mogul built her empire. 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