With trouble plaguing most divisions of CBS, last week's flap over Katie Couric's contract was just one of the countless items on Les Moonves' to-do list, the New York Times reports. Ad sales are down industry-wide, Fox is on the tail of the prime-time division and gaining fast, and the radio division and online presence lag competitors.
Earnings fell from $1.66 billion in 2006 to $1.25 billion in 2007, and prospects for the earnings report due April 29 look grim. But Moonves didn't soar into 8-figure-salary territory by being complacent. "Les wants to win," says one analyst. "He’s very aggressive, he’s very smart, and I just don’t see him standing still." (More CBS stories.)