CBS Chief Leslie Moonves Steps Down

CBS Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves is stepping down amid accusations that he sexually harassed and assaulted numerous women over his career, the company said, a stunning downfall for one of the entertainment industry’s most powerful figures.

According to The Wall Street Journal, CBS also announced a settlement of outstanding legal disputes with its controlling shareholder, National Amusements Inc., which will replace six members of CBS’s board.

The size of Moonves’s exit package will be decided only after the law firms CBS’s board hired to investigate his alleged misconduct complete their work, the company said.

New Yorker Website Screenshot

If Moonves is cleared of wrongdoing, he could walk away with more than $100 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. But if he is found to have engaged in serious misconduct, he would walk away with nothing, several people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Moonves and CBS agreed to immediately donate $20 million to “organizations that support the #MeToo movement and equality for women in the workplace,” the company said in a statement. That amount would be deducted from any severance that Mr. Moonves would get.

The law firms tapped by CBS are investigating assault and harassment accusations against Moonves that surfaced in a New Yorker article in July. The New Yorker published on Sunday another article detailing new allegations from six more women, including that Moonves forced some to perform oral sex, engaged in other violent and intimidating behavior and retaliated against them when rebuffed.

In response to the latest claims, Moonves acknowledged to the New Yorker three of the six alleged encounters but said they were consensual. Previously, he has said he regretted behavior that made women uncomfortable but denied retaliating against those who pushed him away.

“Untrue allegations from decades ago are now being made against me that are not consistent with who I am,” Mr. Moonves said in a statement Sunday, adding that he was “saddened” to be leaving the company after 24 years.

Earlier, the company said in a statement: “CBS takes these allegations very seriously. Our Board of Directors is conducting a thorough investigation of these matters, which is ongoing.”