Comcast’s Michael Cavanagh Made Nearly $72 Million in 2025
NBCUniversal owner Comcast has disclosed the 2025 compensation packages for chairman and co-CEO Brian Roberts and co-CEO Michael Cavanagh, who served as president until the start of 2026, along with pay details for other top executives.
Comcast’s proxy statement, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, showed that Roberts’ pay for his roles as chair and CEO, before the change to co-CEO as of the start of this year, came to $35.1 million in 2025, compared with $33.9 million in 2024. He had made $35.5 million in 2023 and $32.1 million in 2022.
Roberts’ salary was $2.6 million, but he received $23.5 million in stock awards and an $8.6 million cash bonus.
If you think that’s a nice little payday, well, it is — but check this out: Cavanagh’s compensation package was worth $71.8 million in 2025, compared with $28.3 million in 2024. He had made $29.6 million in 2023 and $40.5 million in 2022, when he served as chief financial officer until being promoted to president in October 2022.
The lion’s share of Cavanagh’s eye-popping pay came in the form of stock awards worth a potential $60 million. Cavanagh got about $20 million worth of company stock in March, as per usual. The rest came along with his promotion in December. Stock awards are based on the fair value price on grant date, so they may end up being worth less, more or the same as reported. Cavanagh’s salary and bonus mirrored Roberts’.
Comcast’s stock dropped around 20 percent in 2025, which is still better than several of its peers in the cable and broadband business (but worse than many peers in the entertainment business). The company’s revenue was virtually unchanged, earnings per share rose 30 percent, but adjusted net income dropped 6 percent. Free cash flow jumped 53 percent.
Early this year, the separation of most of Comcast’s cable networks into a separate entity called Versant Media Group, led by Mark Lazarus as CEO, took effect. Lazarus and his team “lead the development of an independent strategy,” while also establishing the firm as a potential partner and acquirer of complementary media businesses.
The spin-off left Comcast focused on what it has been touting as its six growth businesses, namely streaming service Peacock, studios, theme parks, residential broadband, mobile, and business services.
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