Log In


Reset Password
  • MENU
    Television
    Friday, April 19, 2024

    Moonves gets another signing bonus

    Two years after granting CEO Leslie Moonves a bundle of stock options as a bonus for signing a long-term contract, CBS Corp. is giving him another signing bonus worth $22 million after extending his contract through the middle of 2017.

    The 63-year-old executive redid his contract this week. The first installment of the new signing bonus was due Thursday, when he was to receive $7.5 million worth of stock options. In 2013, he is entitled to restricted stock units that will be valued at $14.5 million on the day they are issued.

    Both sets of stock grants vest starting a year after they are issued.

    The one-time stock grants come on top of an annual salary of $3.5 million and a target bonus of $12 million per year, both unchanged from his previous deal. The details of the signing bonus were laid out in a securities filing on Thursday.

    The CEO's pay package in 2011 was valued at $68.4 million, an increase of 20 percent from a year earlier primarily because the value of his options rose to $27.3 million from $14.9 million. The gains were mostly due to the addition of 3.6 million stock options in March 2011, the second of two installments he secured when he redid his employment contract in February 2010. The deal was to run until February 2015.

    Despite the $12 million bonus target, Moonves got bonuses of $27.5 million in both 2011 and 2010, in light of the company's improved performance and rising stock price. He will also continue to receive other annual grants of restricted stock units based on the formula used in his previous agreement, the filing said.

    The filing Thursday also spelled out that Moonves will receive $4.5 million per year as a company adviser after his contract expires on June 30, 2017.

    Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.