Les Moonves To Fight CBS Over $120M Severance

Leslie Moonves

Former CBS Corp. head Leslie Moonves is challenging the company’s decision last month to deny him a severance package of $120 million, CBS said Thursday, a move that will further prolong a months long drama at the media conglomerate.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Moonves, who was forced to resign as chairman and chief executive amid accusations of sexual harassment in September, was denied his severance after a CBS board investigation concluded that he had violated company policies, breached his employment contract and intentionally failed to fully cooperate with the investigation. The terms of his exit agreement from CBS allow Mr. Moonves to challenge the board’s decision in arbitration.

Moonves’s decision, which CBS disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, comes as the network is looking to move past months of uncertainty and upheaval following his departure. The company overhauled its board and commissioned an investigation into its culture after allegations against Mr. Moonves surfaced last summer, but it has yet to appoint a permanent successor. The selection process is complicated by the prospect of an eventual merger between CBS and sister media company Viacom Inc., which is championed by controlling shareholder Shari Redstone.

The decision to take CBS to arbitration was expected. A lawyer for oonves said at the time of the severance denial that the board’s conclusions were without merit. “Mister Moonves vehemently denies any nonconsensual sexual relations and cooperated extensively and fully with investigators,” said Andrew Levander of Dechert LLP.

The next step will be for the two parties to agree on an arbitrator through the American Arbitration Association, where the claim was filed Wednesday. Typically for complex situations, a panel of three arbitrators is retained.

The two sides could still try to hammer out their own settlement.