CBS Ties Moonves' Pay to Performance

More boards are tying top executives’ pay to performance. CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves, who earlier this year was under pressure from CBS Vice Chairman Shari Redstone to restructure his compensation, will accept a lower cash salary and more equity in a new employment contract, The Wall Street Journal reports this morning. (subscription required.)

CBS Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone earlier this year said he believed in the pay- for-performance model and altered his compensation package to align it more closely with CBS's stock.

In September of last year, when appointing a new management team to succeed Tom Freston as CEO at Viacom, he took similar actions both for himself and other executives. (Viacom and CBS, previously one company, divided in two at the start of last year).

Redstone's moves followed a shareholder lawsuit filed against Viacom in 2005, alleging that Redstone, Freston and Moonves were being overpaid. The three had earned nearly $160 million in compensation between them in 2004, a year the company reported an $18 billion loss.