The CBS room is deep in settlement talks with CEO Les Moonves that would follow-up in his departure and the appointment of COO Joe Ianniello as his interim replacement, people close to the bargains told CNBC.
The talks have been going on for some time after time but have yet to reach a conclusion given continued back-and-forth about his leaving package, the sources said.
While under his contract he is due as much as $180 million in severance and a radio show deal, the board is offering a roughly $100 million exit bundle made up almost entirely of CBS stock, sources said. They demanded the board also wants the right to claw back some of the compensation if it’s single-minded that sexual harassment allegations against Moonves are confirmed.
As was considerably reported Wednesday, CBS and its controlling shareholder, Sumner and Shari Redstone’s National Diversions, are negotiating a settlement to end their litigation about whether the CBS board has the right-minded to vastly dilute the voting power of NAI. While it is possible the settlement with Moonves and between CBS and NAI could be averred simultaneously, sources said they are not linked.
CBS officials declined criticism. The company’s share price opened slightly higher Thursday after the CNBC account.