With CBS News Facing Transformation, CBS CEO Sees $57.7 Million Payday

CBS News has a new leadership team, and its evening news anchor Katie Couric may or not be a part of the organization once her contract expires in June. But while CBS News is facing fundamental challenges in the face of a new economic climate, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves is doing just fine.

Moonves earned a staggering $57.7 million payday in 2010, a 34% bump from 2009. That includes a $3.5 million salary, $27.5 million bonus and $23 million stock awards.

By comparison, Couric was the highest paid of all the evening news anchors, earning around $15 million a year from CBS. Moonves earned more than Couric, NBC’s Brian Williams and ABC’s Diane Sawyer combined last year.

Why the big compensation bump? The LA Times explains:

CBS justified the nearly 34% increase, saying that Moonves’ leadership of CBS resulted in “extraordinary growth in shareholder value, and outpaced both the industry and the company’s internal targets.”

Of course, as the Times notes, that growth essentially brought CBS to where it was in 2007.

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