les-moonves

Les Moonves Is More Like a Pirate Than a CEO

Hamilton Nolan · 06/24/15 08:27AM

While you could reasonably argue that many—or even most—corporate CEOs are paid too much money, there is no better poster child for CEO overcompensation than Les Moonves, who plunders the CBS corporation like an evil pirate who tips poorly.

Hamilton Nolan · 09/24/14 12:15PM

The Hollywood Reporter's fawning new profile of CBS boss Les Moonves—one of the media's most overpaid CEOs—reminds us that his daughter Sara is an editor at Vogue, and you're not.

Pentagon Shockingly Sides With General Over Reporter They Hate

Hamilton Nolan · 04/18/11 02:00PM

In your money Monday media column: the Pentagon sides with a general over Rolling Stone, The New Yorker's boring Facebook success, Sidney Harman's unfortunate goodbye column, Les Moonves is overpaid, Glenn Beck is moving, and a history of Fox.

The Richest Journalist in America

Hamilton Nolan · 05/06/10 01:18PM

In your enriching Thursday media column: someone in the media finally strikes it rich, everyone blames Jon Meacham, Les Moonves is wildly overpaid, and you better not buy what he's selling.

Happy Birthday

cityfile · 12/23/09 06:15AM

France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, turns 42 today. Les Moonves, CBS's CEO, is turning 61. Badgley Mischka designer James Mischka is 49. Soap star Susan Lucci is 63. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder is turning 45. Retired Army General (and onetime presidential aspirant) Wesley Clark turns 65 today. Conservative columnist Bill Kristol is 57. Author Donna Tartt is 46. NHL star Scott Gomez is turning 30. Model Estella Warren turns 31. '80s idol Corey Haim is 38. And Holly Madison, best known as the former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner and co-star of Girls Next Door, is downright ancient (by Playboy standards, at least) as she turns 30 today.

Classy Les Moonves Just Told a CNBC Reporter He's Firing His Mother-in-Law on Live TV

Brian Moylan · 12/08/09 01:57PM

CBS actually dropped the ax earlier today so by the time David Faber talked to Moonves, he'd probably already heard the show will end next September. But it was probably a call from his wife, Jenny: Jenny Faber's mother is Marie Masters, who started in the role of Dr. Susan Stewart in 1968. She left the show in 1979 only to return in 1986. She still plays the character occasionally today and even served as a writer on the show at one point.

Twitter's Big Deal, Fox News' Win/Loss

cityfile · 09/24/09 02:27PM

• Twitter is close to raising $100 million in new funding. And despite the fact it makes no money, the deal will value the company at $1 billion. [WSJ, CNN]
• A new survey finds that 86% of the public thinks the news media tries to influence public opinion. One reason to discount the data: Fox News came in as the country's most-trusted and least-trusted news source. And Bill O'Reilly ranked as "the most-trusted news anchor on cable TV." [THR, Poynter]
• MTV reports that it plans to go ahead with the drug-intervention reality series featuring DJ AM that was shot just before he died. [THR]
Michael Moore's new documentary is off to a strong start, alas. [LAT]
• Tim Knight, Newsday's publisher, has handed in his resignation. [NYT]
• Corynne Steindler of "Page Six" is joining Bonnie Fuller's new website. [NYO]
NBC Nightly News' audience is growing, believe it or not. [HP]
• Yahoo is spending $100 million to remind you it still exists. [BrandChannel]
• CBS has a brand new viewer today. Chief exec Les Moonves and CBS Early Show anchor Julie Chen had a son named Charlie this morning. [ET]

Rather's David v. Goliath Battle with CBS Goes On

Andrew Belonsky · 09/21/09 09:46PM

CBS and its hot shot lawyers were impotent in their efforts to thwart old manDan Rather's $70 million wrongful termination suit. Now Rather's lawyers want Viacom big wig Sumner Redstone to take the stand. It's war! [Reuters]

Olbermann's Folly, Cuts at Condé, BusinessWeek Bids

cityfile · 08/04/09 01:27PM

Keith Olbermann took Times reporter Brian Stelter to task last night for reporting that News Corp. and GE had worked out a deal to tone down the rhetoric between MSNBC and Fox News. But he didn't disagree with everything Stelter reported. Conveniently, only the bad stuff about him was wrong. [NYM]
• More bad news for Olbermann: MSNBC now admits it made a mistake by not disclosing that Countdown fixture Richard Wolffe is a paid lobbyist. Naturally, Olbermann had absolutely no idea about any of this. [Politico, Salon]
• Condé Nast is shedding more staff. This time around it appears the media giant's receptionists will be paying the ultimate price. [Gawker, NYM]
• Reps for Bruce Wasserstein met with BusinessWeek execs yesterday to discuss a bid for the magazine. Joe Mansueto, the founder of Morningstar and owner of Fast Company, may be a potential bidder as well. [BW]