CBS' Les Moonves Is $69M Man

CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves remained among the highest-paid executives in corporate America with a $69.3-million compensation package in 2017, down slightly from the previous year, according to CBS' proxy filed Friday.

Les Moonves

The LATimes reports details of the fat compensation package come as CBS' controlling shareholder Shari Redstone is working to reunite CBS and Viacom Inc., the other media company her family controls. Negotiations have become tense because Redstone and Moonves appear to be at odds over the proposed management team for a combined entity.

Meanwhile, CBS nominated veteran media executive Richard Parsons to its board, bolstering the panel at a crucial time when the two companies might become one.

Both CBS and Shari Redstone have embraced the choice of Parsons, who served as chairman and chief executive of Time Warner Inc. from 2003 to 2008, after its turbulent takeover by internet upstart AOL.

Parsons is expected to join CBS' board after an election of directors at the annual board meeting in mid-May. Parsons would replace longtime CBS board member and former filmmaker Arnold Kopelson.

Richard Parsons

Analysts believe the Viacom-CBS merger issue should be settled by early May, when the two companies next report their earnings.

Wall Street has become concerned that Shari Redstone, Moonves and others on CBS' board seem to be at odds over key terms of the proposed merger.

"We don't see a scenario where there is NO deal," Wells Fargo Securities analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote in an investor note Friday. In addition, "We do NOT think CBS will pay a discount" for Viacom.

The stumbling block has become whether Shari Redstone and Viacom will stick to its demands that Viacom Chief Executive Bob Bakish be installed as the No. 2 executive at a combined Viacom-CBS.

Moonves wants his current second-in-command, Joseph Ianniello, to remain in the chief operating role should CBS swallow the smaller Viacom.