Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Earned $32.7 Million In 2020; NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell Pay Was $16.5 Million

Jill Goldsmith
·2 min read
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Comcast CEO Brian Roberts’ total pay package came in at $32.7 million last year, down from $36.4 in 2019.

Roberts earned a base salary of $3.4 million; stock and option grants both valued at $10.6 million; and $7.7 million in non-equity incentive compensation — like a cash bonus.

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NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell’s total pay was $16.5 million, according to a proxy statement Friday. The reports filed with the SEC list the salaries of a company’s top five highest paid executives. Comcast CFO Michael Cavanagh and CEO of Comcast Cable both earned more at, respectively, $25 million and $20 million.

Shell had a base pay of $2.6 million, stock and option grants valued at $3.7 million apiece and non-equity incentive pay of $5.8 million. He became CEO of NBCUniversal, succeeding Steve Burke, in January of 2002.

The execs had agreed to forgo base bay for six months last year during the pandemic.

The compensation committee of Comcast’s board, which sets executive pay, praised its named executive officers for the company’s strong performance in navigating Covid-19, citing the launch of Peacock and blockbuster results at cable, which was the standout business last year. Roberts, Cavanagh and Shell received 75% of their target bonus amounts for 2020, while Watson received 100% of his.

The committee said Shell’s operational accomplishments included the “success in launching Peacock, which had over 33 million sign-ups in the United States in just over its first six months without the anticipated benefit of leveraging the Olympics” as well as introducing “a new premium video on demand strategy to bring movies directly to consumers given movie theater shutdowns” and realigning “how the television, streaming and production businesses should operate to more effectively compete as more consumers shift to viewing streaming content.” NBCUniversal and other big media companies completely reimagined their divisional org charts to shift the focus to streaming.

The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will start July 23, without international spectators.

Shell also oversaw the reopening of Universal’s Orlando and Osaka parks lasts year and continued work on Universal Beijing, which is on schedule to open this year. Universal Studios Hollywood opened earlier this month.

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