Former CBS chairman-CEO Leslie Moonves forfeited $34.5 million in CBS stock awards last year as part of the settlement agreement that saw him ousted from the company he steered for more than 20 years amid a sexual misconduct scandal.
Moonves earned a total of $47 million from CBS in 2018, according to CBS’ annual proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But he was forced to give up $34.5 million of the $42 million worth of stock awards granted as part of his compensation package.
Moonves actually earned about $4.6 million last year, including $2.9 million in salary. He received no bonus but earned about $1 million in what is described in the filing as “Other Compensation,” plus a little over $644,000 in pension earnings. The filing also notes that Moonves was paid $8 million of the $20 million bonus he earned in 2017 in calendar year 2018.
The longtime CBS leader was forced to resign after revelations of past sexual misconduct allegations were detailed in two exposes were published in July and September by Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker.
In both 2017 and 2016, Moonves took in more than $69 million in salary, bonus and stock awards and options.
Joseph Ianniello, who took over from Moonves as president and acting CEO in September, received $27.4 million in compensation last year, including a $12.5 million bonus and nearly $12 million in stock awards and options.
After Ianniello, CBS chief legal officer Lawrence Tu was the second-highest paid person at the Eye with a 2018 compensation package of $8.9 million. That included a $3.5 million bonus and nearly $4 million in stock options and awards, in a year when CBS was awash in legal battles with controlling shareholder National Amusements — lawsuits settled as part of Moonves’ exit — and with sexual misconduct claims against Moonves and other high-profile CBS figures.