Les Moonves Starts New Company Weeks After Leaving CBS

Les Moonves, fired by CBS over claims of sexual misconduct, has created three new companies under the banner “Moon Rise,” according to a filing with the California Secretary of State.

The filing says that Moon Rise Unlimited, Moon Rise Technologies and Moon Rise Productions have been registered since Oct. 30, and the presumed parent company lists Moonves as the lone manager.

Under the former CEO’s separation agreement in September, CBS is supposed to pay for an office for Moonves, hence it is presumably footing the bill for Moon Rise, which the secretary of state says is registered at 2049 Century Park East in Los Angeles. According to The New York Times, however, Moonves has set up shop at 9000 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood.

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The filing for Moon Rise Productions indicates the entity will provide services for film and TV production while Moon Rise Technologies will provide streaming services and distribution.

The creation of the three entities comes while Moonves is still in a legal dispute over a $120 million severance he says he is owed but CBS has said it will not pay due to the circumstances surrounding his dismissal.

CBS declined to comment on Friday, but in December, after an investigation into multiple allegations over a few decades, it said Moonves was fired for “willful and material malfeasance, violation of company policies and breach of his employment contract.”

The Times reported on Friday that the building housing Moon Rise has no directory in the lobby because, as the security guard put it, “our tenants don’t want people to know they are there.”

Moonves was considered one of the most powerful men in the entertainment industry until Ronan Farrow’s article in The New Yorker accused him of harassing about a dozen women. Subsequent reporting revealed accusations from more women and, at least in one case, Moonves’ alleged attempts to buy a victim’s silence by promising her acting jobs.