they are holding it at neutral amidst a new chapter in the les moonves sexual misconduct scandal.fighting back this hour after spending much of the morning in negative territory. we're up barely, just about half a percent or so and this owes to the blistering "new york times" report accusing the former cbs chief of bribery and a variety of other nefarious actions, activities and a bid to cover up the accusations of sexual assault against him. that "new york times" report adding more fuel to the fire for critics who want to see mr. moonves and his potential $120 million parachute, golden parachute, grounded. let's bring in charlie gasparino, who has been digging into this controversial package from day one. >> i don't know why this stock would be down, because -- susan: what about the fact the "new york times" report was so disturbing? >> well, yes. that's why i don't think the stock should be down. what i'm hearing from people inside the company is in all likelihood, he's not going to get the entire package. he could get nothing or part of it, but you know, remember what happened

may not be able to walk wei with the big serveence. >> reporter: the actress with the assault of les moonvese than two decades ago. in a report to "the new york times," phillips calls a 1995 incident that she says took place during a meeting in moonves' office. at the time, he was president of warner brothers television. according to phillips recollection, moonves exposed himself to her saying, be my girlfriend and i'll put you on any show. she says he then grabbed her by the neck, pushed her to her knees and forced her to perform a sex act. she said they were interrupted by a phone call that allowed her to escape. phillips' manager tells the "times" that days after the incident saying moonves had violated her but didn't go into detail. in a statement to the "times," moonves says i strongly believe that the sexual encounter with miss philips over 20 years ago was consensual. over the past years, moonves said he and phillips have exchanged hundreds of text messages. >> moonves agrees early on in the exchanges is the sense that he's desperate to keep her from talking. >> reporter: in an effort

scarlet: you have the drama with viacom and cbs and then you have the les moonves drama as well. i wonder if all of these different dramas has distracted cbs to tie up with other becauses -- companies it has been so consumed by all of this other stuff they could not prepare in the way disney or fox good. paul: from a fundamental perspective, they have done a good job keeping their eye on their ball. they have developed a lot of new revenue streams, like the syndication of their product to hulu and netflix's of the world. they have an over-the-top product, cbs, showtime products, so they have done a good job on the operational side, but strategically they have been dealing with the shareholder so much and the potential tie up with viacom that perhaps they were not perceived as attractive to someone else for consolidation. i think those constraints have been relaxed and this management team think they can pursue transactions. scarlet: paul sweeney, thank you so much. the shares are moving in after hours trading. eps beating estimates. that does it for the closing bell and for me. r

the ceo on an interim basis is the guide that is les moonves is right-hand man. they don't want to do what sherry redstone wants to do in merge viacom and cbs. the rest of families essentially controlling shares of both. is the controlling shareholder could work out a deal when they reached accords settlement essentially that they have a two year window and i think that's the next step. the real question is i think this is adam's game because fulltext step in and buy them. i don't think so. maybe you have a different opinion. >> i would totally agree with you through the part that confuses me is even if they shop themselves, doesn't redstone have to buy into it? charlie: no, they have a standstill agreement worked out as part of the big messy lawsuit between les moonves and the board. so they have two years to legally do this. my question and i don't think there is a lot out there at least now, the netflix want to get involved in this. i don't see it. they produce their own content. cbs will be forced to merge. >> it's amazing they can't talk about this. guys, we

and the latest on the allegations made against les moonves. will this affect the giant payout package that he is hopefully going to walk away wi, heth's hoping he would walk away with. "power lunch" is back after this an august to remember, starts with a december to remember at the lexus december to remember sales event. lease the 2018 ls 500 for $769 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. for 36 months. oh, there weren't enough intehours in the day to maintain are old data center. so we made a twelve a fifteen. three extra hours. but that really doesn't add hours to the day. yeah it does, look. i'm not sure it works that way, but at cdw we get that time is precious. so we'd access your needs then design a nutanix enterprise cloud. to give you more time to grow your business. yeah that's better. hey we still on for lunch at 15 o'clock? you bet. for private cloud solutions you need nutanix and it orchestration by cdw. for each job exxonmobil creates, many more are created in the community. because energy touches so many

robin. >>> we'll move on now to new accusations against les moonves. ld put the fired cbs chief's $120 million exit package at risk. a new report by "the new york times" centers on alleged efforts to silence an accuser whose talent manager told moonves, quote, if she talks, i'm finished. paula faris has more on that story. good morning, paula. >> reporter: that accuser is talking. whether it finishes him is to be determined, but this is a shocking new report with that hefty severance payout hanging in the balance. this morning, les moonves' reported $120 million golden parachute is in jeopardy of imploding. according to a new report in "the new york times," lawyers for cbs are looking into whether the ousted executive lied to the board about an alleged assault on actress bobbie phillips. phillips, who has appeared in films and television -- >> he was like a second father to her. >> reporter: -- met the hollywood honcho through her talent manager marv dauer back in 1995. >> reporter: phillips tells "the times" during a private meeting with moonves he exp

connell: future moving on from les moonves, big question from cbs. looks pretty good. we're waiting for apple. melissa. melissa: we're waiting for the president. let's bring in james freeman, "wall street journal," he is a fox news contributor. what are you hearing about the speech coming up in the roosevelt room? that he will lay out guidelines potentially for changes to immigration? what do you expect? >> i'm hoping we hear more what we heard from the president yesterday when talking about the great economy. all the job openings we have and we need more workers. he hasn't been able to say that in a while. there is a discussion about the caravan. he is synonymous cracking down with illegal immigration. we have a discussion how we have system to enforce the law at the border. there is more talk like we heard from him yesterday, how we bring if talented people who want to work. melissa: let's bring in ken paxton as well. ken, do you agree that is one of the problems? when we see interviews with peep in the caravan, some say they're coming for asylum. a lot of people say

did les moonves scheme to silence an accuser? >>> troubling results from new headlight tests. what you need to know before you hit the road. >>> and it's official. ♪ >> the rockefeller center christmas tr shining bright after a star-studded celebration kicking off the holiday season. today thursday, novemb9, 2018. >> announcer: from nbc news this is today with savannah guthrie and hoda kotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller center. >> welcome to today on this thursday morning. thank you for joing us. look at us outside. >> i know. we cannot get enough of this beautiful tree. >> it was a spectacar moment when they turned those lights on. oh, we could watch it a million times. wasn't the music incredible? >> it was incredible. it was a gre nht. people had so much fun. so the season begins and the weather, too, to match with it. >> that is our top story this morning. the weather set it impact tens of millions from california. al is inside. >> everybody just aout coast coast going to be affected by this. we have heavy rain moving into californh this storm system. heavy rain and w

expose came out, they hadn't talked in years this is a struggling b-list old time hollywood manager les moonvest have time for him they hadn't talked in years. he called and left a message less than 10 seconds moonves is back on the phone with him wanting to know why are you calling. >> and importantly attends the man's 75th birthday party. >> shows up at his birthday part y party and sends gushing texts and he goes there with his wife julie chen i can only imagine julie chen is saying what are we doing here? >> the larger question from investors point of view is -- and you've been following the story closely for months, what about the exit package what is the actual role here for the board, for those who are investigating cultural issues at the company. how does this go down, how does your story figure into that? >> i had actually there was a good chance that moonves might get the $120 million because he gets it if he's fired without cause and cause is defined so narrowly that you can do almost anything and it's not cause but one of the key things is he had to cooperate fully in any internal i

les moonves, it is really appalling.y comes out well in this report except a woman partner who blew the whistle. it doessing too much, raise questions, does he get the $120 million? it is up to the board and i would be shocked at this point. jason: it is hard to imagine reading this story on its own in thinking we should write that check. david: what happens to the company? they still don't have a ceo. there is talks of merging it with viacom. jason: and remember, -- comes out of the videogame world. the fastest growth -- growing area of content right now and this is a young guy. ambition andof certainly has a different take on the media world that some of the old guard media. he -- at the same time, take two is very successful. remember back when he was a young man, the first tentative of -- the first head of entertainment for fox. he knows the entertainment industry, the television industry. alix: and les moonves did a great job in programming at cbs. many thanks to jason kelly. you want to tune into jason for business

ousted cbs chairman les moonves breaking his silence about his fall from grace. >> what's next?> out to dinner with his wife julie chen. is the former power couple planning a comeback? >>> the first photo inside gwyneth paltrow's wedding. why she's going public about being premenopausal at 46. >> the sweating and the wood. >> barbra streisand's epic carpool karaoke. the music legend dropping confession after confession from jobs. >> i couldn't figure out something on my computer. >> come on. >> plus gordon's incredible rise

. >>> the bombshell new report that could cost ousted cbs chief les moonves $120 million, claiming heeportedly saying, if she talks, i'm finish

. >>> a new report in "the new york times" alleges that les moonves tried to cover up a sexual assault claim. itt details messages, phone calls and conversations between moonves and a hollywood manager. nbc news has not verified these exchanges. an actress named bobby phillips claimed moonves exposed himself and forceder to perform a sexac t in his office 20 years ago. he does not deny it happenedut claims it was consensual. he's stepped down from cbs network. th severance package will be withheld until all allegations of sex assaultlaims are complete. >>> we have a consumer alert for you. you may have had a hard time nding avocados through the end of december. i should say you liy. su are squeezed because of a strike in mexico that stops imports. growers clashed over pay with companies thatack and distribute the fruit. thoctober strike lasted 16 days and affected mexico's largest a producing state. >> if that means they can't have their aftvocado coats, they're going to lose their mind. >>> right now at 4:00, we have a sad update about one of d.c.'s favorite dogs. romo, the mastiff mi

. >>> les moonves could lose payout as actress fires devastating new accusations against him. >>>

inquiry by year's end and at that point, they are then going to start deciding what to do with les moonves. he was the ousted cbs chief, ousted over allegations of sexual harassment. he only gets his $120 million compensation package if they feel that he wasn't wrong in some of this stuff. he could get as much, he could get zero, he could get somewhere in the middle. but i'm telling you, this is fascinating from a reporting standpoint. two huge media stories and watch hbo and dish. watch this. this is going to be big for both companies' stock and big for at & t/time warner. liz: high of the session, folks, 280 points to the upside. we're up 278 at this very moment. i'm giving charlie gasparino all the credit for that. >>> when we come back, we will be just minutes away from, of course, that closing bell. you got to see how this one ends. your company is constantly evolving. and the decisions you make have far reaching implications. the right relationship with a corporate bank who understands your industry and your world can help you make well informed choices and stay ahead of opportunitie

the ceo of hbo saying what do you think about coming over to cbs and running the show to replace les moonvesand richard turned him down, he said i'm happy where i am. which makes sense. he has the job he wants. for cbs he has to program for an older audience, has to deal with advertisers, work with shari redstone. >> so he's not worried about the -- he probably feels like he's getting what he needs from them >> for now also, you know -- it's not a bad thing for him. >> what is a commentary on the future of cbs or the future of at&t/time warner? >> it's a future on the comment of cbs, how difficult it will be to find a successor. >> does that mean the current interim chair -- >> joe i ianella, he is the current one. investors like him because they know he understands the business and what they're looking for from him it will be determined more on where the board goes in terms of their strategic plan for sbs cb altogether do we merge with viacom? >> let's look at apple shares. the current trillion dollar cut off price for apple is 207.04. that will be recalculated once we find how many more sh