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Having vanquished corporate nemesis Tom Freston to an ashram in Burma to seek a new direction in his unexpectedly abbreviated media career, CBS Corp CEO and future galactic dictator Les Moonves moves on to the next phase of his plan for eventual world domination: ingratiating himself to cantankerous Viacom boss Sumner Redstone to set up a takeover of his multimedia empire. According to the NY Times, Moonves' strategy is already in full swing:

And, for now, Mr. Redstone is infatuated with CBS. He talks to Mr. Moonves daily and flew in from Los Angeles last weekend with his wife, Paula, to go to the United States Open and have dinner with Mr. Moonves and his wife, Julie Chen, a CBS morning show anchor.

"They are not just good friends, but good to be with," Mr. Redstone said. "And Julie and Paula are good friends, so that makes it easier all around."

In a telephone interview from his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., last week, Mr. Redstone said with an effusiveness that he once showed for Mr. Freston: "Les is spectacular. He's the best in the media business, if not all businesses.

"I haven't the slightest doubt that Les and his company will do great."

The plan to dispose of Redstone is really an ingenious one; rather than get caught up in a messy, possibly traceable corporate patricide (poisoning his Metamucil with arsenic, dipping his dentures in rat poison, etc), when the time is right, the diabolical Moonves will merely lean over to Redstone, whisper, "I don't really enjoy going to these Take Your Trophy Wife to the Tennis Match Days with you. I'm only doing it out of obligation and ambition," in his ear, then wait for the disappointed octogenarian's broken heart to stop beating from sadness. It's cruel, yes, but Moonves has an empire to build.