Leslie Roy Moonves (born October 6, 1949) is the former Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation.
Moonves served as Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Viacom Inc., the predecessor of CBS Corporation, from 2004 until the company was split on December 31, 2005. Prior to that, he had held several executive roles at CBS since July 1995. He has also served as a director at ZeniMax Media since 1999.
Moonves was named Chairman of CBS in February 2016.
He was born into a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Josephine (Schleifer) and Herman Moonves, and grew up in Valley Stream, New York. He attended Valley Stream Central High School and graduated from Bucknell University in 1971. During his sophomore year, he switched his major from pre-med to Spanish and appeared in a few stage productions. After graduation, he moved to Manhattan to pursue a career in acting, but after appearing in a few “forgettable” TV roles, he decided to shift to the business side of television.
Moonves gained early executive experience in the industry. He was in charge of first-run syndication and pay/cable programming at 20th Century Fox Television. He also served as Vice President of Movies and Mini-Series at Fox. Additional roles included Vice President of Development at Saul Ilson Productions (in association with Columbia Pictures Television) and Development Executive at Catalina Productions.
He joined CBS in July 1995 as President of CBS Entertainment. From April 1998 to 2003, he served as President and CEO of CBS Television, before being promoted to President and CEO of CBS Corporation in 2003. He oversaw all company operations, including the CBS Television Network, The CW (a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), CBS Television Stations, CBS Television Studios, CBS Television Distribution, Simon & Schuster, CBS Interactive, CBS Consumer Products, CBS Home Entertainment, CBS Outernet, and CBS Films. Under his leadership, CBS rose from last place to become the most-watched television network in the United States.
CBS’s turnaround was driven by successful programming, including franchises like CSI and Survivor. By the last quarter of 2005, CBS had six of the top ten most-watched primetime shows: CSI, Without a Trace, CSI: Miami, Survivor: Guatemala, NCIS, and Cold Case.
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