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 (/ˈmuːnvɛz/; born October 6, 1949) is an American media executive who was the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation from 2003 until his resignation in September 2018. He has been married to TV personality Julie Chen since 2004.
He held a series of executive positions at CBS from July 1995 to September 2018. He was also on the board of directors at ZeniMax Media from 1999 until 2021. Later, he was co-president and co-chief operating officer (COO) of the original Viacom, the legal predecessor to CBS Corporation, from 2004 until the company split in December 2005. He became chairman of CBS in February 2016. In September 2018, Moonves stepped down as chairman of CBS.
According to various media reports, Moonves has amassed a net worth of over US$800 million through compensation from CBS. Moonves earned $68.4 million in 2017, combined with stock options of the media company, worth over $100 million.
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Early life
Leslie Roy Moonves was born in Brooklyn, New York City to a religious Jewish family, the son of Josephine (Schleifer) and Herman Moonves, and grew up in Valley Stream, New York. His mother was a nurse. He has one sister, Melissa Moonves Colon, and two brothers, including entertainment attorney Jonathan Moonves. He attended Valley Stream Central High School and went to Bucknell University, graduating in 1971. In his sophomore year, he decided that his science courses were unfulfilling and switched his major from pre-medical to the Spanish language (a subject he found vastly more enjoyable) and acted in a few plays; following graduation in 1971 he moved to Manhattan to pursue an acting career where he eventually graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. He landed a few parts, playing tough guys on Cannon and The Six Million Dollar Man, which he described as "forgettable" TV roles before deciding on the career change. He also worked as one of casting director Caro Jones' first office assistants early in her career.
Business career
Moonves was in charge of first-run syndication and pay/cable programming at 20th Century Fox Television. Also at 20th Century Fox Television, he was vice president of movies and mini-series. Other positions included vice president of development at Saul Ilson Productions (in association with Columbia Pictures Television) and development executive for Catalina Productions.
Lorimar Television and Warner Bros. Television (1985–1995)
Moonves joined Lorimar Television in 1985 as executive in charge of its movies and mini-series, and in 1988, became head of creative affairs. From 1990 to 1993, he was president at Lorimar. In July 1993, he became president/CEO of Warner Bros. Television, when Warner Bros. and Lorimar Television combined operations. In this phase of his career, he green-lighted the shows Friends and ER, among many others.
CBS (1995–2018)
He joined CBS in July 1995 as President of CBS Entertainment. From April 1998 until 2003, he was president and chief executive officer at CBS Television, then was promoted to chairman and CEO of CBS in 2003. CBS had six of the ten most-watched primetime shows in the final quarter of 2005: CSI, Without a Trace, CSI: Miami, Survivor: Guatemala, NCIS, and Cold Case.
In February 2005, Moonves was identified as the executive directly responsible for ordering the cancellation of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise and the ending of the 18-year revival of the Star Trek television franchise. In January 2006, Moonves helped make the deal that brought together the CBS-owned United Paramount Network (UPN) with The WB Television Network to form The CW Television Network that fall.
Moonves was the second-most highly-paid director for 2012 and 2013: he received $58.8 million and $65.4 million. He is considered the second-highest paid CEO, having been paid $68.4 million in 2017.
In 2013, Moonves was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. He became chairman of CBS in February 2016.
Moonves was also open to acquiring smaller film production companies to expand his company's CBS Films division. At the end of July 2017, Moonves was a part of a first-look television production deal between his company and Imagine Entertainment, a feature film, television programming and documentary production company run by filmmaker Ron Howard and film producer Brian Grazer.
Howard Stern litigation
In February 2006, Moonves led CBS to file a $500 million lawsuit against Howard Stern for allegedly breaching his contract by failing to disclose the details of his deal with Sirius Satellite Radio while still employed by Infinity Broadcasting. Stern vowed to fight the suit, and said on his radio program that Moonves and CBS were trying to "bully" him and his agent, Don Buchwald. Stern later appeared on CBS' own Late Show with David Letterman, wearing a shirt mocking Moonves and his wife. In June 2006, Stern announced that the lawsuit had been settled. As part of the settlement, Sirius acquired the exclusive rights to all of the WXRK tapes (over two decades' worth of shows) for $2 million.
ZeniMax Media
Moonves was on the board of ZeniMax Media from its foundation in 1999 until 2021, alongside his friend and ZeniMax president Ernest Del. Moonves' personal investment in the company has been noted, as well as his appearances at several launch parties, including for Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Rage.
Moon Rise Unlimited
On February 8, 2019, The New York Times reported that Moonves had founded his own company in West Hollywood, California named Moon Rise Unlimited after being fired from CBS.
Public appearances
On April 7, 2003, Moonves portrayed himself in an episode of The Practice. From early 2004 until its end in May 2015, Moonves made regular appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman. One of these came when Letterman declared outrage that CBS featured his late-night competitor Jay Leno in an ad for CBS's telecast of the People's Choice Awards. Letterman jokingly warned the "CBS stooge in the control room" to call his buddies "before things turn ugly"; Moonves obliged. Later appearances took the same format, with Letterman discussing current events and the CBS network with the company's CEO.
On the March 23, 2015, premiere episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden, Moonves portrayed himself as the head of CBS who sends out a golden ticket granting whoever finds it a chance to host The Late Late Show, in an homage to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Moonves also appeared on the September 8, 2015, premiere of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, operating a large switch he could use to switch back to reruns of The Mentalist if he was unhappy with the new program.
Personal life
Moonves is a grand-nephew of Paula Ben-Gurion, born Paula Munweis, wife of David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel. He practices Transcendental Meditation, and has said, "It puts me in a calm state, which I'm not always in."
In 1978, Moonves married Nancy Wiesenfeld, with whom he has three children including W magazine editor in chief Sara Moonves. In April 2003, Nancy Moonves filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. Nancy and Les Moonves were already living apart.
While still married to Nancy, Moonves began dating Julie Chen, CBS' The Early Show reporter and host of the reality series Big Brother and The Talk. On December 10, 2004, Moonves got a court to grant an early divorce, on a motion citing a "desire to return to the status of being single". Thirteen days later in Mexico, he married Chen. In 2009, Chen gave birth to a son.
Moonves resides in Beverly Hills, California, in a house he bought from Andy Heyward. He also owns residences in Malibu, California and New York City.
Philanthropy
In 2015, Moonves and Chen made a major donation to University of Southern California, resulting in a media center being named the Julie Chen/Leslie Moonves and CBS Media Center. Moonves was already a USC School of Cinematic Arts' board of councilors member. Previously Moonves was a University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism board member.
In August 2018, Moonves was "suspended" from the USC School of Cinematic Arts' board of councilors.
In September 2018, at the same time Moonves resigned, CBS announced that Moonves and the network would be donating $20 million to #MeToo-related organizations.
See also
In Spanish: Les Moonves para niños
- Joseph Ianniello, former acting CEO at CBS
- Jim Lanzone, President and CEO of CBS Interactive
- Martha Minow, law professor and CBS board member
- Shari Redstone, vice-chairwoman of CBS and member of Redstone family which owns the majority share of CBS
- Sumner Redstone (1923–2020), former executive chairman of CBS and member of Redstone family which owns the majority share of CBS
