Taking the helm of CBS Corporation, Leslie Moonves has led the company to new heights, which were not achieved never before in the history of CBS. Under his regime as CEO and Chairman, CBS could capitalize the high-end television content right from the startups to international outlets. All the executives were molded as loyal and hard-charging under the regime of Moonves which made CBS to have many success stories on the account. The unique popularity of Moonves within the industry and the investment community has made him attain his elevation.
Moonves studied acting from The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre from New York. Thereafter Moonves decided to pursue the career as an actor, but then shifted his focus and concentrated on pursuing television business.
Moonves was associated as the President of Warner Bros. Television. Then Moonves joined CBS in 1995 where he served as the president of CBS Entertainment. As the shows conducted by Moonves turned out to be super hits, he was promoted as president and later in 2003, as CEO and Chairman. Later in 2004, Moonves was responsible for some of the additional activities such as operations of the domestic and international broadcast, for all the operations related to outdoor advertising. During the period of 2006, when the company was divided into two different companies separately performing on the stock exchange, Moonves served as the President and CEO of CBS Corporation. He also worked for 20th Century Fox Television as vice president and was responsible for movies and mini-series division. He served for Saul Ilson Productions as vice president and for Catalina Productions as development executive. Moonves was associated with Lorimar Televisions as president and later as CEO of Warner Bros. Television. Moonves also serves as the director for ZeniMax Media.
SAs a chairman and CEO of CBS, Moonves is responsible for all the overseas operations of CBS. He is also responsible for the CBS television network, studios, International Studios, Films and Television stations of CBS. As a director, Moonves could successfully develop his primetime news program, new comedy chow, late night shows as number 1 television shows. Millions of new subscribers were generated by his Showtime networks. Moonves while serving as the chairman and CEO, has guided all the different divisions of CBS Corporation, and was the main reason behind the extraordinary success of the CBS network.
The bold moves made by Moonves turned up to be very successful. One such decision was honing the focus on business related to content production as an advanced extended version to its outdoor advertising unit and the radio stations. Moonves along with his team could pick up the investment pace by working on subscription-based business, which offers a traditional media giant enabling an interactive session between media-consumers. Thus Moonves made CBS, the darling of Wall Street.
Moonves has reached to such an extent of success that for the year 2012 and 2013, he was the second most highly paid director. The success of Moonves is reflected in his pay which is mainly performance based and in the form of stock options and bonus. In 2004, Moonves was paid around $57.2 million which was slightly dip in 2015 and was taking home $56.8 million. But in 2016 and 2017 Moonves pay was almost $69 millions, which depicts the growth of the stock of CBS Corporation.
During Moonves period as President and CEO, CBS Corporation has developed as one of the best-performing media companies. Under the leadership of Moonves along with his team, some of the shows like "Everybody Loves Raymond" "Survivor" and "CSI", turned out to be huge hits and has transformed the ratings of the CBS television from the last place to the first place. Under the leadership of Moonves, there has been a robust improvement in other divisions of CBS as well which includes interactive media. Moonves has contributed towards increase in the value of CBS Corporation in terms of market share and developing revenue generation streams for future growth.
When Television industry was facing a couple of wrenching disruptions from some of the major competitors like Amazon, Netflix, Moonves has faced all the challenges that came across his career path. Moonves always presented the most confident facades, throughout his career for decades. Micromanaging factor is a part of working culture for Moonves. His incredible sense about the likes of the audience, their moods and about casting helps him in taking correct decisions and makes him succeed with the decisions taken by him. Moonves is well known for his keen interest in all the aspects right from scratch to big decisions related to the CBS business.
A reputation has been developed by Moonves as a boss who is always hard-charging and is persistent about unconditional loyalty from the inner circle, which was returned back to them. Moonves turned famous as a corporate executive who inserts himself into the pilot pickups and schedules. CBS Corporation and all the employees are energized by the leadership of Moonves. A major of the CBS spotlights were success under the leadership of the bold-faced Moonves and he is one of the most lovable on the Wall Street and is considered as a charismatic leader. By satisfying almost 12,700 employees Moonves proved to be a great leader.
Earlier to his television business career, Moonves proved to be a great actor. Dozens of hit shows were spearheaded by Moonves for CBS. He played television roles on Canon, The Six Million Dollar Man etc. He also acted for Caro Jones. He played for many of the television shows such as The Practice, Late Show with David Letterman. All the shows which were played by Moonves turned out to be super hits. Moonves was considered as the King of the broadcasting Television and is treated as the modern version of William S Paley.
For about almost 23 years, Moonves has worked hard, day and night for growth of CBS Corporation. It has become impossible to think of CBS prospects without Moonves serving CBS, inside and outside.
The merger strategy between CBS Corporation and Viacom Inc. has lead to a lot of chaos as Moonves would oust CBS since he was not satisfied with the merger strategy. As the industry and the market know well about the Leslie Moonves, as soon as this was published, the stock of CBS Corporation has dropped down drastically. Immediately CBS and Viacom Inc. have taken the decision that Moonves would serve the new company as the Chief Executive Officer, who is the only person who can manage and face the competition from some of the strong competitors like Amazon, Netflix.
His contract with CBS as Chief Executive Officer is undoubtedly extended to 2021. Inspired by his leadership and the unwillingness of the company to leave Moonves is reflected in the facts that CBS has provided an option to Moonves for being as a senior advisor even after his agreement for a period of five years. Moonves has also being provided an opportunity for developing a production company, for which the required finances are provided by CBS.
Leslie Moonves has been graduated his masters from Valley Stream Central High School, Bucknell University. He was married to Nancy Wiesenfeld till 2004. After divorce with her he married to Julie Chen, CBS Television show, 'The Early Show' reporter. He has four children.
Moonves serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Film Institute and Paley center for Media.
Serves on the Board of Directors for ZeniMax Media.
For the University of Southern California's Cinematic Arts, Moonves serves on the Board of Councilors.
In 2007, the Milestone Award, MIPCOM 2007 Personality of the Year was awarded by the producers of Guild of America.
Casting Society of America has awarded the Career Achievement Award.
By the International Radio and Television Society Foundation, old Medal Award was awarded to Moonves.
Also won the Television Showmanship Award issues by the Publicists Guild of America.
In 2003, Moonves was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame and in 2004 into Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.
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