ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish was investigated over an accusation of sexual misconduct from 2016 and a recently completed outside investigation “did not support the allegation,” the company said.
“The Board takes any allegation of this type seriously,” a ViacomCBS spokesperson said. “An independent review of the alleged incident has concluded, and the investigation did not support the allegation.”
The news of the investigation was first reported by The Information. Bloomberg added that Bakish was accused of inappropriate touching by an employee.
In 2016, Bakish was acting CEO of Viacom, three years before it would re-merge with CBS. Bakish would eventually ascend to the chief executive role with ViacomCBS.
In 2018, then-CBS CEO Les Moonves resigned in disgrace after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. Moonves’ resignation cleared the way for Shari Redstone, whose National Amusements was the controlling stakeholder in both CBS and Viacom, to reunite the companies under one roof. Moonves had adamantly opposed the combination.
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