CBS board in $100 million exit negotiations with CEO Moonves - CNBC

(Reuters) - Media company CBS Corp's board is in settlement talks with Chief Executive Officer Les Moonves and has offered about $100 million exit package, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

The company's shares fell nearly 2 percent to $51.95 in premarket trading on Thursday.

A New Yorker report in late July featured claims against Moonves from six women spanning different time periods over two decades, from 1985 to 2006. The allegations included sexual assault and unwanted advances.

Moonves will be replaced by COO Joe Ianniello as interim CEO, according to the CNBC report.

CBS could not be immediately reached for comment.

Moonves, who joined CBS in 1995 and became CEO in 2006, is locked in a legal battle over control of the company with National Amusements, its largest shareholder, owned by Shari Redstone and her father Sumner who also control media company Viacom.

CBS is in settlement talks with Shari Redstone and National Amusements, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Moonves received a total compensation of $69.33 million in 2017, making him one of the highest paid U.S. executive.

He had earlier said he "may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances", which he called mistakes that he regretted immensely, but that he understood "'no' means 'no'" and had never used his position to harm anyone's career.

(Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma and Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)