Les Moonves facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Les Moonves
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Moonves in 2009
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| Born | October 6, 1949 New York City, US
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| Alma mater | Bucknell University (BA) Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre |
| Occupation | Media executive |
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| Children | 4 |
Leslie Roy Moonves (born October 6, 1949) is an American media executive. He was the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation from 2006 until he resigned in September 2018. He left the company after many women accused him of serious misconduct. He has been married to television host Julie Chen since 2004.
Moonves held several top jobs at CBS from 1995 to 2018. He was also on the board of directors for the video game company ZeniMax Media from 1999 to 2021. Before that, he was a top leader at Viacom, the company that owned CBS. He became the chairman of CBS in 2016.
Over his career, Moonves became very wealthy. In 2017 alone, he earned over $68 million.
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Early Life and Education
Leslie Roy Moonves was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Jewish family. He grew up in Valley Stream, New York. His mother was a nurse, and he has a sister and two brothers.
He went to Bucknell University and planned to study medicine. However, he found science classes unfulfilling and switched his major to Spanish. He also started acting in plays. After graduating in 1971, he moved to Manhattan to become an actor. He studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.
Moonves had small roles in TV shows like Cannon and The Six Million Dollar Man. He later described these roles as "forgettable" and decided to change his career path to work behind the scenes in television.
Business Career
Moonves started his business career at 20th Century Fox Television. He was in charge of programming for cable TV and also worked on developing new movies and mini-series.
Lorimar and Warner Bros. Television
In 1985, Moonves joined Lorimar Television. By 1990, he was the president of the company. In 1993, Lorimar combined with Warner Bros. Television, and Moonves became the president and CEO of the new, larger company. During this time, he helped create very popular shows, including Friends and ER.
CBS
Moonves joined CBS in 1995 as the President of CBS Entertainment. He was very successful. By the end of 2005, CBS had six of the ten most-watched shows on TV, including CSI, Without a Trace, and NCIS.
In 2003, he was promoted to Chairman and CEO of CBS. In 2006, he helped create The CW Television Network by joining together two smaller networks, UPN and The WB.
Moonves was one of the highest-paid executives in the country. In 2013, he was honored by being added to the Television Hall of Fame.
Controversies and Leaving CBS
During his time at CBS, Moonves was involved in several controversies.
Janet Jackson
After the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, which featured a wardrobe malfunction with singer Janet Jackson, Moonves was reportedly very angry. He was in charge of CBS, which broadcast the show.
Reports say that Moonves wanted an apology from both Jackson and the other performer, Justin Timberlake. After the event, Jackson's music and videos were reportedly banned from MTV, VH1, and many radio stations owned by Viacom, CBS's parent company at the time. Jackson was also uninvited from the 46th Annual Grammy Awards that year. Years later, when a book by Jackson was published by a company CBS owned, Moonves was reportedly still upset about the incident.
Leaving CBS in 2018
In 2018, several articles were published in which numerous women accused Moonves of misconduct and creating an environment of abuse at CBS. These accusations went back many years.
The CBS board of directors began an investigation. In September 2018, more women came forward with accusations. Shortly after, on September 9, 2018, CBS announced that Moonves was resigning from his position.
After he left, CBS said it would deny Moonves a $120 million severance payment. The company's investigation found that he had not cooperated with investigators and had tried to interfere with their work. In 2021, Moonves officially dropped his claim to the money.
Personal Life
Moonves is related to Paula Ben-Gurion, the wife of David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel.
In 1978, Moonves married Nancy Wiesenfeld. They have three children together. The couple divorced in 2004.
Shortly after his divorce, Moonves married Julie Chen, a host on CBS. They have one son, born in 2009. The family lives in Beverly Hills, California, and also has homes in Malibu, California, and New York City.
See also
In Spanish: Les Moonves para niños
