(L-R) Michael Cavanagh, then-chief monetary officer of Comcast, talks with Brian Roberts, chief government officer of Comcast, as they arrive for the annual Allen & Firm Solar Valley Convention, July 9, 2019 in Solar Valley, Idaho.
Drew Angerer | Getty Photographs
Comcast introduced Monday it is named Mike Cavanagh as co-CEO alongside longtime chief Brian Roberts, beginning in January.
Cavanagh, who presently serves as president, will even be named to the Comcast board of administrators at the moment. Roberts will stay as chairman and co-CEO of the corporate.
“Since becoming a member of Comcast a decade in the past, Mike has confirmed himself to be a trusted and collaborative chief,” Roberts mentioned in a press release. “He’s the perfect individual to assist lead Comcast as we handle the pivot we’re making to drive progress throughout the corporate. Mike and I work seamlessly collectively, and I’m thrilled to be partnering with him as Co-CEO and with the remainder of our gifted administration group, for years to return.”
Cavanagh beforehand served as chief monetary officer of the cable large, which consists of a broadband, cable TV and cell firm in addition to NBCUniversal. Earlier than Comcast, Cavanagh was co-CEO of JPMorgan’s company and funding financial institution.
“Comcast is a particular firm with distinctive companies and an unimaginable group. It’s an honor to work with Brian and the whole Comcast NBCUniversal management group throughout this thrilling and transformative time in our business,” Cavanagh mentioned in a press release.
Comcast shares have been primarily flat in early buying and selling Monday following the announcement. The inventory is down about 15% to date this yr. Throughout Cavanagh’s tenure as president, from October 2022 to at the moment, Comcast shares have gained about 9%.
Cavanagh has lengthy been thought of inheritor obvious to Roberts by business insiders, CNBC reported this yr.
In 2022 he was promoted to president of Comcast and months later his function expanded when Jeff Shell exited his function as CEO of NBCUniversal. Cavanagh took over direct management of the corporate’s TV, movie and theme park models, though was by no means formally named CEO of NBCUniversal.
Since then he has embedded within the NBCUniversal enterprise and has overseen a variety of adjustments on the division, together with a restructuring and most notably NBCUniversal’s spinout of its cable TV networks, together with CNBC, MSNBC and the Golf Channel.
The corporate’s new company management construction mirrors that of Netflix, the runaway chief in streaming.
Finance to the fore
Netflix in 2023 promoted Greg Peters, beforehand the corporate’s chief working officer, to co-CEO alongside Ted Sarandos after Reed Hastings introduced he would step again. Sarandos has lengthy been in command of content material, whereas Peters’ focus had been centered on rising Netflix past DVDs and into streaming, increasing partnerships and rising the worldwide footprint — all of which have been key to the streaming large’s progress.
Netflix’s disruption of the media enterprise has helped to shift the business towards a new crop of finance- and operations-minded leaders on the prime of leisure firms.
Warner Bros. Discovery mentioned earlier this yr it will break up into two companies — Warner Bros., made up of the streaming platform and studios, and Discovery International, the TV networks enterprise. Gunnar Wiedenfels, the CFO of Warner Bros. Discovery, is slated to take over as CEO Of Discovery International after the break up.
Comcast’s companies, in the meantime, has been confronted with numerous headwinds lately.
Pressures on broadband have ramped up following a interval of gangbuster progress because of elevated competitors from different suppliers, comparable to 5G or so-called mounted wi-fi. In flip, Comcast and its friends have suffered from a slowdown in subscriber progress.
In July, Comcast reported a lack of 226,000 complete home broadband clients for the second quarter regardless of a shift in market technique earlier this yr, which included new pricing.
Comcast is scheduled to report its subsequent quarterly earnings on Oct. 30.
Disclosure: Comcast is the mother or father firm of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would turn out to be the brand new mother or father firm of CNBC upon Comcast’s deliberate spinoff of Versant.
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