CBS to Donate $20 Million to #MeToo Under Moonves Separation Agreement

CBS, within 30 days, will donate $20 million to “one or more charitable organizations that support the #MeToo movement and equality for women in the workplace” under its separation agreement with Les Moonves, who resigned Sunday as chairman, president and CEO amid allegations of sexual misconduct (see the personals section of the Aug. 3 issue), said the company in an SEC filing Monday. Moonves will pick the charities “in consultation with” CBS, it said. CBS also will pay $120 million into a “grantor trust” and will keep the money if its board determines that Moonves was fired for cause and he doesn’t seek an arbitration appeal, it said. The board will make that determination within 30 days after independent investigators from Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton submit their report on the allegations, but “in no event later” than Jan. 31, it said. If the board finds Moonves was fired for cause, CBS will have “no further obligations” to him, it said. Until that determination, Moonves will perform “transition advisory services” for a year and will be given “office services and security services” for up to two years, it said. Moonves would collect the $120 million from the grantor trust if the board determines he was fired without cause, it said. The CEO's departure came in an announcement Sunday that the group of TV stations and its controlling shareholder affiliated with the Redstone family ended their litigation. That shareholder, National Amusements, confirmed it doesn't plan to propose combining CBS and Viacom and won't do so for at least two years, and "will give good faith consideration to any business combination transaction or other strategic alternative that the independent directors believe are in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders." CBS shares closed 1.5 percent lower Monday at $55.20, while Viacom's stock was little changed, too.