Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, took home a pay package worth $36.25 million last year — an increase of 10% from 2014.
But Roberts wasn’t Comcast’s most highly compensated exec: That was CFO Michael Cavanagh, hired in May 2015, who received total compensation of $40.65 million in 2015, according to an SEC filing by the cable and media conglomerate Friday. About $16.5 million of Cavanagh’s compensation was in stock, $4 million was in options and an additional $10 million was in deferred compensation, and “We expect that his total compensation in future years will be significantly lower,” the company said.
Steve Burke, president and CEO of NBCUniversal, saw his comp drop slightly from $33.92 million in 2014 to $33.66 million last year.
Roberts’ 2015 package comprised $2.93 million in salary, $5.35 million in stock, $5.35 million in options, $9.75 million in non-equity incentives, a $8.73 million change in pension value and $4.14 million in other compensation.
Roberts, whose existing contract runs through June 30, “was instrumental in continuing to shape the strategic vision of our company,” Comcast said in the filing. The exec’s base salary increased by 2.5% and, “in light of our strong 2015 performance, Mr. Roberts received 111% of his target annual cash bonus, or $9.8 million,” the company said.
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In 2015, Comcast’s total revenue increased 8.3%, to $74.5 billion, while net income was down 2.6% to $8.16 billion.
Under Burke, NBCU posted revenue growth of 11.9% and operating cash flow growth of 14.8% in 2015, Comcast noted. “We believe Mr. Burke’s strategic vision (including his commitment to continuing to invest in our programming assets and grow our theme parks business, both domestically and internationally) is a critical factor in NBCUniversal attaining such strong results,” the company said.
Among other senior Comcast execs, Neil Smit, president and CEO of Comcast Cable Communications, earned $27.95 million (up 21% from 2014) and David L. Cohen, senior EVP, who oversees corporate communications and government and regulatory affairs, was paid $17.92 million (a 33% increase).
Former vice chairman and CFO Michael Angelakis had a $20.18 million pay package, up 7% from $18.87 million the year prior. While he resigned as CFO as of June 30, 2015, he remained a Comcast employee through the remainder of the year. As of Jan. 1, 2016, he became CEO of Atairos Group, a strategic tech and media investment company formed by Comcast and Angelakis.
