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Following allegations of sexual abuse by at least six more women in an article by THE NEW YORKER’s RONAN FARROW, CBS CEO LES MOONVES has resigned. He is the first CEO of a FORTUNE 500 company, the former owners of CBS RADIO with the brand living on as the CBS TADIO NEWS NETWORK, to leave his post amid these types of allegations since the #MeToo Movement got its jump-start following the investigations of HARVEY WEINSTEIN coming to light.

MOONVES’ departure is part of a larger agreement to settle on-going litigation between CBS’ controlling shareholder SHARI REDSTONE and NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS INC, which was headed to court on OCTOBER 3rd.

It’s expected that CBS COO JOE IANNIELLO will be named as interim CEO, while a search is launched.

According a CBS CORP. proxy filing, MOONVES earned $69.3 million in 2017, a slight decline from his 2016 compensation of $69.6 million.  His compensation package is estimated at $100 million, with CBS donating a portion to an unnamed charity and having the right to “claw back” the remainder of that money pending investigations into these allegations.

That same proxy filing also disclosed the 2017 salary for IANNIELLO, who took in $22.1 million in 2017 compared to $29 million in 2016.

The new allegations include a former co-worker during MOONVES’ tenure at LORIMAR-TELEPICTURES, PHYLLIS GOLDEN-GOTTLIEB, who filed a criminal complaint last year alleging that MOONVES physically restrained her and forced her to perform oral sex on him as well as exposing himself to her and throwing her against the wall in other incidents; FARROW reports that law enforcement sources found the allegations “credible and consistent” but the statute of limitations had expired. Also alleging abusive behavior was JESSICA PALLINGSTON, an assistant assigned to MOONVES for several days in 1994 at WARNER BROS. TELEVISION, who recounted having to work with MOONVES in a hotel room, where MOONVES solicited a massage and then forcing her to give him oral sex, and later, after she refused to submit in a later encounter, became hostile towards her and led to career problems, and DEBORAH GREEN, a freelance makeup artist who says she forced a kiss on her and was subsequently no longer hired for CBS corporate print-and-publicity shoots.

Former LORIMAR junior executive DEBORAH MORRIS told FARROW that MOONVES tried to kiss her on two occasions, and after she bolted from both encounters, was frozen out of company meetings, ending her entertainment industry career. Writer LINDA SILVERTHORN said that she and MOONVES had consensual sex in his office but that years later, after she had entered a long-term committed relationship with another man, MOONVES, at a meeting, shut the door, kissed her, and “pulled his penis out,” moving it towards her hand for manual stimulation, which she said she “just got it over with”; subsequently, he told her there were no opportunities for her at the studio. And massage therapists at the FOUR SEASONS HOTEL in WASHINGTON, staff members told FARROW, complained of sexual misconduct by MOONVES, as did a LOS ANGELES massage therapist, DEBORAH KITAY.

CBS’ response to sexual harassment and assault allegations against MOONVES and “60 MINUTES” Executive Producer JEFF FAGER has been criticized as inadequate and resulting in a frat house or “MAD MEN” atmosphere. The network moved quickly to fire CHARLIE ROSE after allegations of inappropriate behavior were reported by the WASHINGTON POST, but MOONVES, who has been credited with CBS CORPORATION’s strong performance and has been embroiled in a battle with SHARI REDSTONE over a potential re-merging of CBS with VIACOM, had survived allegations thus far.

Courtesy All Access.