47-461: ZMM may refer to: ZeniMax Media , a video game holding Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (more commonly abbreviated as ZAMM ) Zygomaticus minor muscle Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title ZMM . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
94-524: A non-disclosure agreement . ZeniMax was awarded $ 500 million. In the meantime, ProSiebenSat.1 Media had sold its stake in ZeniMax back to the company for €30 million. In September 2020, Microsoft announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax and its subsidiaries for $ 7.5 billion. For Providence Equity Partners, the deal represented a six-time return on investment. Altman had considered selling ZeniMax for several years and at one point
141-423: A $ 500 million lawsuit against Howard Stern for allegedly breaching his contract by failing to disclose the details of his deal with Sirius Satellite Radio while still employed by Infinity Broadcasting . Stern vowed to fight the suit, and said on his radio program that Moonves and CBS were trying to "bully" him and his agent, Don Buchwald. Stern later appeared on CBS' own Late Show with David Letterman , wearing
188-554: A $ 9.5 million settlement to actress Eliza Dushku , who claimed she was written out of her starring role on CBS drama Bull as retaliation for reporting sexual harassment by co-star Michael Weatherly ; actress Cybill Shepherd alleged in a radio interview that Moonves cancelled her sitcom, Cybill , after she rejected his advances. On December 18, 2018, CBS announced that the board would deny Moonves his $ 120 million severance pay, as their investigation had found Moonves violated his contract. According to investigators, claims made by
235-514: A 12.5% stake in ZeniMax as part of a partnership between the two companies. Among the partnerships between the companies, ZeniMax's subsidiary e-Nexus Studios developed entertainment portals and websites for SBS. In the same year, Terry McAuliffe , George Mitchell , Dean Devlin , and Jon Feltheimer joined ZeniMax as advisors. The company acquired the Fallout franchise from Interplay Entertainment in 2004. In August 2007, ZeniMax announced
282-405: A blacklist of her music and music videos on MTV , VH1 and Infinity Broadcasting radio stations, all of which were owned by the original incarnation of Viacom at the time. MTV also had produced the halftime show , and it was permanently disallowed from producing future halftime shows as a consequence. Jackson had been scheduled to attend the 46th Annual Grammy Awards where she was to perform
329-534: A calm state, which I'm not always in." In 2015, Moonves and Chen made a major donation to University of Southern California, resulting in a media center being named the Julie Chen/Leslie Moonves and CBS Media Center. Moonves was already a USC School of Cinematic Arts ' board of councilors member. Previously Moonves was a University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism board member. In August 2018, Moonves
376-492: A comprehensive educational program of guest lectures and internships. In May 2014, ZeniMax sent a letter to Facebook and its Oculus VR subsidiary, asserting that any contributions John Carmack made to the Oculus Rift project were the intellectual property of ZeniMax, stating that "ZeniMax provided necessary VR technology and other valuable assistance to Palmer Luckey and other Oculus employees in 2012 and 2013 to make
423-522: A feature film, television programming and documentary production company run by filmmaker Ron Howard and film producer Brian Grazer . In September 2018, following allegations of sexual assault , it was reported that CBS was negotiating a $ 100 million exit package for Moonves and that CBS Chief Operating Officer Joe Ianniello would be his interim replacement. On September 9, 2018, CBS Corporation announced he had resigned and Joe Iannello would become interim CEO. Moonves and CBS will donate $ 20 million to
470-531: A first-person essay in New York that Moonves sexually assaulted her in an elevator in the mid-1990s after she interviewed him for a story. Moonves denied the allegation. On May 14, 2021, CBS and Moonves agreed to settle their disputes over the latter's $ 120 million severance. A joint statement from Moonves and CBS explained that the $ 120 million would "revert" to CBS, that the cost of the settlement would be borne by CBS' law firm, and that Moonves would contribute
517-586: A golden ticket granting whoever finds it a chance to host The Late Late Show , in an homage to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . Moonves also appeared on the September 8, 2015, premiere of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , operating a large switch he could use to switch back to reruns of The Mentalist if he was unhappy with the new program. Moonves is a grand-nephew of Paula Ben-Gurion , born Paula Munweis, wife of David Ben-Gurion ,
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#1732766128679564-844: A net worth of over US$ 800 million through compensation from CBS . Moonves earned $ 68.4 million in 2017, combined with stock options of the media company, worth over $ 100 million. Leslie Roy Moonves was born in Brooklyn , New York City to a Jewish family, the son of Josephine (Schleifer) and Herman Moonves, and grew up in Valley Stream, New York . His mother was a nurse. He has one sister, Melissa Moonves Colon, and two brothers, including entertainment attorney Jonathan Moonves. He attended Valley Stream Central High School and went to Bucknell University , graduating in 1971. In his sophomore year, he decided that his science courses were unfulfilling and switched his major from pre-medical to
611-513: A pierced nipple shield (with a silver sun), had been exposed by ex- NSYNC member, vocalist Justin Timberlake , for 9/16ths of a second. The brief exposure became, what was at the time, the most rewatched moment in the history of TiVo . According to the documentary Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson , Moonves wanted an apology from both Jackson and Timberlake. Moonves deemed Jackson's apology as "insufficient" and implemented
658-753: A series of executive positions at CBS from July 1995 to September 2018. He was also on the board of directors at ZeniMax Media from 1999 until 2021. Later, he was co-president and co-chief operating officer (COO) of the original Viacom , the legal predecessor to CBS Corporation, from 2004 until the company split in December 2005. He became chairman of CBS in February 2016. In September 2018, Moonves stepped down as chairman of CBS after multiple women brought forth sexual assault allegations against him. Moonves allegedly destroyed evidence of his sexual misconduct. According to various media reports, Moonves has amassed
705-473: A shirt mocking Moonves and his wife. In June 2006, Stern announced that the lawsuit had been settled. As part of the settlement, Sirius acquired the exclusive rights to all of the WXRK tapes (over two decades' worth of shows) for $ 2 million. Moonves was on the board of ZeniMax Media from its foundation in 1999 until 2021, alongside his friend and ZeniMax president Ernest Del . Moonves' personal investment in
752-555: A tribute to Luther Vandross , after collaborating with him on the #1 single " The Best Things in Life Are Free ", which was created for the soundtrack to the 1992 film Mo' Money . She, along with Timberlake, however, were disinvited from attending unless they released on-air apologies for the "Nipplegate" incident. Only Timberlake went to the ceremony after having approached Moonves in person at CBS' Los Angeles offices, where he tearfully apologized to him. The Vandross tribute
799-411: A very good year for us. Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald . Keep going." He added, "Donald's place in this election is a good thing." Moonves was also open to acquiring smaller film production companies to expand the company's CBS Films division. At the end of July 2017, Moonves was a part of a first-look television production deal between CBS and Imagine Entertainment ,
846-605: The Star Trek television franchise. In January 2006, Moonves helped make the deal that brought together the CBS-owned United Paramount Network (UPN) with The WB Television Network to form The CW Television Network that fall. Moonves was the second most highly-paid executive for 2012 and 2013: he received $ 58.8 million and $ 65.4 million. He is considered the second-highest paid CEO, having been paid $ 68.4 million in 2017. In 2013, Moonves
893-505: The 2019 merger of CBS Corporation and the second Viacom , later Paramount Global in 2022), and law firm Covington & Burling paid an undisclosed settlement fee to Moonves. Following his firing from CBS due to sexual harassment, Moonves was revealed to have been obsessed with ruining R&B singer-songwriter Janet Jackson 's career. His actions had followed the February 1, 2004, Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy , also known as Nipplegate. Jackson's right breast, adorned with
940-667: The Microsoft Gaming division. Christopher Weaver , the founder of the video game publisher Bethesda Softworks , and Robert A. Altman , a lawyer, founded ZeniMax Media in 1999. The name is a portmanteau of "zenith" and "maximum". The company was established to succeed Media Technology Limited as the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. Weaver brought Altman onboard as the chief executive officer , contributing his stock in Bethesda Softworks so that ZeniMax Media would be able to obtain funding. Weaver served as
987-580: The People's Choice Awards . Letterman jokingly warned the "CBS stooge in the control room" to call his buddies "before things turn ugly"; Moonves obliged. Later appearances took the same format, with Letterman discussing current events and the CBS network with the company's CEO. On the March 23, 2015, premiere episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden , Moonves portrayed himself as the head of CBS who sends out
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#17327661286791034-518: The chief technology officer from 1999 to 2002, when he moved into a non-executive role. Later that year, he filed a lawsuit against ZeniMax, alleging breach of contract and claiming he was owed US$ 1.2 million in severance pay. By February 2007, Weaver only held a 33% stake in the company, which by 2020 had been reduced to "a pittance of the stock". Among the original board members were Harry E. Sloan , Les Moonves , and Robert Trump . In 2000, SBS Broadcasting Group , operated by Sloan, acquired
1081-416: The #MeToo movement, money that will be deducted from any severance benefits Moonves may be owed, the company said. The donation to charities promoting women's equality in the workplace would come upon the conclusion of an independent investigation into the allegations, according to the statement. In May 2021, Moonves dropped his claim for $ 120 million in severance pay, which reverted to ViacomCBS (the result of
1128-419: The 1980s. Shortly after resigning as CEO of CBS that month, Moonves released a statement denying all of the sexual misconduct allegations. In November 2018, The New York Times published an article in which actress Bobbie Phillips alleges that Moonves sexually assaulted her during the mid-1990s, and was attempting to bury the allegations. The next month, it was revealed Moonves had been involved in paying
1175-655: The Oculus Rift a viable VR product, superior to other VR market offerings." The company filed a lawsuit against Oculus VR later that month. In June, Oculus VR filed a response to the lawsuit, stating that ZeniMax was falsely claiming ownership to take advantage of its acquisition by Facebook. Oculus VR also claimed that the Oculus Rift did not share any code or technology with ZeniMax's. A jury ruled in favor of ZeniMax in February 2017. They found that, while Oculus VR had not misappropriated ZeniMax's trade secrets, it had violated ZeniMax's copyrights and trademarks in addition to
1222-605: The Spanish language (a subject he found vastly more enjoyable) and acted in a few plays; following graduation in 1971 he moved to Manhattan to pursue an acting career where he eventually graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre . He landed a few parts, playing tough guys on Cannon and The Six Million Dollar Man , which he described as "forgettable" TV roles before deciding on
1269-458: The Workplace, formed in late 2017 to "tackle the broad culture of abuse and power disparity". In January 2018, CBS Cares released public service announcements concerning how to combat sexual harassment. In July 2018, The New Yorker published an article by Ronan Farrow saying that six women accused Moonves of harassment and intimidation, and dozens have described abuse at CBS. Moonves
1316-460: The acquisition. Microsoft announced the completion of the acquisition on March 9, 2021. The final cost of the transaction was $ 8.1 billion. ZeniMax's board of directors was consequently dissolved. 300 QA testers , a majority at ZeniMax Studios voted to unionize as ZeniMax Workers United-CWA in January 2023. This follows the unionization efforts of QA testers at Activision Blizzard which
1363-673: The career change. He also worked as one of casting director Caro Jones ' first office assistants early in her career. Moonves was in charge of first-run syndication and pay/cable programming at 20th Century Fox Television . Also at 20th Century Fox Television, he was vice president of movies and mini-series. Other positions included vice president of development at Saul Ilson Productions (in association with Columbia Pictures Television ) and development executive for Catalina Productions. Moonves joined Lorimar Television in 1985 as executive in charge of its movies and mini-series, and in 1988, became head of creative affairs. From 1990 to 1993, he
1410-512: The company has been noted, as well as his appearances at several launch parties, including for Bethesda Softworks ' Fallout 3 , The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim , and Rage . Moonves voiced support for the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment in the workplace, even describing it as a "watershed moment" during a November 2017 press conference, and was a founding member of the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in
1457-531: The first Prime Minister of Israel. In 1978, Moonves married Nancy Wiesenfeld, with whom he has three children including W magazine editor in chief Sara Moonves . In April 2003, Nancy Moonves filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. Nancy and Les Moonves were already living apart. While still married to Nancy, Moonves began dating Julie Chen , CBS ' The Early Show reporter and host of
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1504-523: The formation of the studio ZeniMax Online Studios , led by Matt Firor. In October, after ProSiebenSat.1 Media purchased SBS Broadcasting Group and inherited its stake in ZeniMax Media, now 9% of the shares, ProSiebenSat.1 Media announced it would intensify its relationship with ZeniMax. The company launched SevenGames.com, the international edition of its German-language game platform, in December and worked with ZeniMax to develop online games. In
1551-523: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ZMM&oldid=1065524531 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages ZeniMax Media ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Rockville, Maryland . The company
1598-464: The occurrence continued well into 2011, when Jackson signed a book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster , owned by CBS Corporation, for the self-help book True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself . "How the f*** did she slip through?," he reportedly inquired. Moonves also said, according to one source, that "...heads were going to roll," as a result of the settlement to which Jackson had agreed. In February 2006, Moonves led CBS to file
1645-685: The reality series Big Brother and The Talk . On December 10, 2004, Moonves got a court to grant an early divorce, on a motion citing a "desire to return to the status of being single". Thirteen days later in Mexico, he married Chen. In 2009, Chen gave birth to a son. Moonves resides in Beverly Hills , California, in a house he bought from Andy Heyward . He also owns residences in Malibu, California and New York City. Moonves practices Transcendental Meditation , and has said, "It puts me in
1692-670: The same year, Providence Equity Partners bought a 25% stake in ZeniMax for $ 300 million. ZeniMax had 200 employees in October 2007. It acquired the Prey and Rage franchise in 2009. After Providence Equity Partners invested another $ 150 million for an undisclosed stake in 2010, the company grew to 400 employees by January 2011. ZeniMax subsequently announced a partnership with the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts to support its Interactive Media Division with
1739-729: The settlement money to various charities. On February 8, 2019, The New York Times reported that Moonves had founded his own company in West Hollywood, California named Moon Rise Unlimited after being fired from CBS. On April 7, 2003, Moonves portrayed himself in an episode of The Practice . From early 2004 until its end in May 2015, Moonves made regular appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman . One of these came when Letterman declared outrage that CBS featured his late-night competitor Jay Leno in an ad for CBS's telecast of
1786-502: The women were credible and led to more claims that were found to be credible during the course of the investigation. In addition, it was claimed that Moonves attempted to interfere with the investigation. Allegations of examples include Moonves refusing to cooperate with investigators, acting "evasive and untruthful" towards investigators, deleting hundreds of messages, and passing off his son's iPad as his own to investigators. On June 21, 2019, advice columnist E. Jean Carroll wrote in
1833-506: Was also acquired by Microsoft. In 2024, Microsoft signed a labor-neutrality agreement with CWA union, agreeing not to interfere with unionization efforts in any ZeniMax Media subsidiaries. In May 2024, Microsoft announced the impending closures of the ZeniMax studios Arkane Austin , Alpha Dog Games , and Tango Gameworks , as well as Roundhouse Studios ' absorption into ZeniMax Online Studios. In July 2024, over 200 Bethesda Game Studios employees unionized with CWA. The wall-to-wall unit
1880-580: Was close to a deal with rival Electronic Arts . Prior the deal's closure, he died on February 3, 2021, aged 73, at a Baltimore hospital. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Commission greenlit the acquisition in March 2021. A preliminary injunction to block the acquisition was being sought in a class-action lawsuit that ZeniMax faced over Fallout 4 , with the plaintiffs arguing that Microsoft could shield ZeniMax's assets from damages should it be found liable after
1927-577: Was founded in 1999 by Christopher Weaver and Robert A. Altman as the parent company for Weaver's video game publisher Bethesda Softworks . The company additionally owns the development studios Bethesda Game Studios ( The Elder Scrolls , Fallout , and Starfield ), id Software ( Doom , Quake , and Rage ), Arkane Studios ( Dishonored , Prey , and Redfall ), MachineGames ( Wolfenstein ), and ZeniMax Online Studios ( The Elder Scrolls Online ). Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media for $ 8.1 billion in March 2021 and operates it under
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1974-517: Was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame . He became chairman of CBS in February 2016. Of the tone of the 2016 Republican presidential campaign , and the advertising dollars it delivered, Moonves said, "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS ... Man, who would have expected the ride we're all having right now? ... The money's rolling in and this is fun ... I've never seen anything like this, and this [is] going to be
2021-574: Was instead performed by Celine Dion , Alicia Keys and Richard Marx . CBS was fined $ 27,500 for the incident. In June 2006, that amount later was later increased to $ 325,000 by the Federal Communications Commission . ) Moonves allegedly asked fellow CBS executives if the corporation could compel Jackson to pay the FCC fines following the investigation of the halftime show incident by Congress. Moonves' anger at Jackson over
2068-462: Was president at Lorimar. In July 1993, he became president/CEO of Warner Bros. Television , when Warner Bros. and Lorimar Television combined operations. In this phase of his career, he green-lighted the shows Friends and ER , among many others. He joined CBS in July 1995 as President of CBS Entertainment. From April 1998 until 2003, he was president and chief executive officer at CBS, then
2115-420: Was promoted to chairman and CEO of CBS in 2003. CBS had six of the ten most-watched primetime shows in the final quarter of 2005: CSI , Without a Trace , CSI: Miami , Survivor: Guatemala , NCIS , and Cold Case . In February 2005, Moonves was identified as the executive directly responsible for ordering the cancellation of UPN 's Star Trek: Enterprise and the ending of the 18-year revival of
2162-562: Was recognized by Microsoft, and includes artists, engineers, programmers, and designers. In August 2024, Krafton agreed to buy Tango Gameworks, preventing its closure. Les Moonves Leslie Roy Moonves ( / ˈ m uː n v ɛ z / ; born October 6, 1949) is an American media executive who was the chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation from 2003 until his resignation in September 2018 following numerous allegations of sexual harassment , sexual assault and abuse. He has been married to TV personality Julie Chen since 2004. He held
2209-459: Was subsequently placed under investigation by the CBS board. In August 2018, Bucknell University removed references to Moonves on its website, and University of Southern California suspended Moonves' name from its Media Center. In September 2018, The New Yorker reported that six more women (in addition to the six original women reported in July) had raised accusations against Moonves, going back to
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