Leslie Moonves
Born	December 23, 1948 (1948-12-23) (age 59) New York City, New York
Occupation	President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation
Salary	US$67.6 million in 2007 (includes other compensation) [1]
Spouse(s)	Julie Chen
Website Biography from CBS Corporation website

Leslie Moonves (born December 23, 1948) is President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation.

Moonves served as co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom, Inc., the predecessor to CBS Corporation, from 2004 until the company split on December 31, 2005. Prior to that he had been in a series of executive position for CBS since July 1995.^[2]

Business career

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Moonves was president of Warner Bros. Television starting in 1993, where he green-lit the hit shows Wings and Survivor.^{citation needed}

Among the shows that have given CBS a new lease on life is the CSI franchise, for which Moonves developed the original while at Warner Bros.^{citation needed}

He was the only U.S. broadcast network executive who could claim an increase in viewers in 2003, up 1%.^{citation needed}

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 Star Trek television franchise. ^[3]

In January 2006, Moonves was instrumental in making the deal that brought together CBS-owned UPN with The WB to form the CW Network. Late February 2006 saw CBS (under Moonves' leadership) reporting 4th quarter losses of over $19.5 billion for 2005.^{citation needed}

On February 28, 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 claimed 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 Leslie and his wife. On June 7, 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.

Moonves fired Don Imus on April 12, 2007, eight days after Imus used alleged racial slurs on his show.

Acting career

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In his early career, Moonves was an actor. He landed a few television roles, playing tough guys on Cannon and The Six Million Dollar Man^[4] before deciding on a career change.^[5]

On April 7, 2003, Moonves portrayed himself in an episode of The Practice.

From early 2004, Moonves has made regular contributions to The Late Show with David Letterman. One of these appearances was provoked by David Letterman himself when he declared outrage that Jay Leno was featured prominently on the CBS website in an ad for CBS's telecast of the People's Choice Awards. On the Late Show, Letterman jokingly warned the "CBS stooge in the control room" to call his buddies "before things turn ugly." Leslie obliged. Later appearances have taken the same format, with Letterman discussing current events and the CBS network with the company's CEO.

Personal life

Moonves was born in New York City and grew up in Valley Stream, New York. He attended Valley Stream Central High School and went to Bucknell University, graduating in 1971.^[6] In his sophomore year he realized he hated the sciences, so he switched his major to Spanish and acted in a few plays.^{citation needed}

Moonves resides in the hills above Brentwood, California, and has two children: Michael and Sara, with his former wife of 26 years, Nancy Wiesenfeld Moonves (m. 17-Dec-1978, div. 2004).^[7]

On December 23, 2004, Moonves' 56th birthday, he married Julie Chen, 22 years his junior.^[8]

References