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CBS Negotiating Les Moonves’ Exit: Report

Board seeking to gut his severance package, which has reportedly stymied the talks.

The board of CBS is said to be negotiating the exit of CEO Les Moonves, the media titan who was accused of sexual misconduct in an explosive August New Yorker piece. According to a CNBC report, these talks have reportedly stalled, however, as both sides debate over Moonves’ prospective severance package. CNBC reports that Moonves, per his contract, would be owed as much as $180 million in severance—and a production deal—if the board decided to dismiss him. But CBS is reportedly looking to cut that number almost in half, to $100 million paid mostly in stock options, and to leave the option to take back some of that money if the investigation reveals that Moonves committed additional sexual misconduct. In a statement to The New Yorker, Moonves argued that he always respected the word “no” and denied that he ever “misused my position to harm or hinder anyone’s career,” but admitted that “there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances.”