(FORTUNE Magazine) – Sumner Redstone has formally declared that he will give up the CEO title when Viacom divides into two companies early next year. The crusty media mogul, 82, plans to stay on as chairman of the post-split entities. But nobody expects him to cede power happily--himself maybe least of all. Early this year, in an interview with FORTUNE about another reluctant retiree, Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Redstone recalled urging Eisner to hang on, despite the demands of critics who wished to oust him. "Once you've had this kind of power, Michael, let's face it, nobody wants to give it up," he told Eisner over dinner with their wives in Los Angeles. Redstone even predicted that the Disney board would keep Eisner in charge past 2005--which, as we know now, was a wishful plot twist. (Eisner is scheduled to pass the reins to Bob Iger on Sept. 30.) Redstone told FORTUNE--and Eisner too: "My advice in succession is, 'Don't go. Stay!' " As chair of the two new media outfits, he'll likely brandish his power by wooing investors. Redstone loathes talking about his age and offers this bit of advice to people who dwell on it. "People make a mistake in determining a person's age by his chronology and not by mental age and acuity." -- Patricia Sellers

What's next for Lachlan Murdoch? He's holed up in Australia after exiting News Corp. and fielding offers to tell all. Don't expect a Murdoch paper to land the big get.