Ex-CBS CEO Moonves Takes His Firing for Cause to Binding Arbitration

Former CBS CEO Les Moonves told the company Wednesday he's exercising his option under his Sept. 9 separation agreement to demand binding arbitration to dispute the board firing him for cause and denying him $120 million in severance, said CBS in an 8-K SEC filing Thursday. Directors decided Dec. 17 that CBS had grounds to fire Moonves for cause for “willful and material misfeasance,” violating CBS policies and failing to cooperate with the company's independent investigation into sexual misconduct (see 1812170050). CBS doesn't plan to “comment further” until the “arbitration proceedings” are complete, it said.