Comcast plans no big change for its 15,000 Philly workers as company splits in two

Comcast, the $125 billion-a-year media and communications giant based in Philadelphia, is planning to split into two publicly traded companies, one based on the NBCUniversal media group, the other focused on broadband and wireless services.

Comcast’s consumer and business services and NBCUniversal media now face “distinct” opportunities that are best pursued separately, Brian L. Roberts, chief executive since 2002, told investors in a conference call.

Shares of Comcast, which had recently been trading near a 10-year low, jumped as much as 17% on the news, before closing at $24.22, a 4.5% gain for the day but well below the stock’s highs earlier this year.

The split reverses major Comcast media acquisitions.

“We previously believed that scale and diversification benefits warranted operating these businesses as one company; we’ve now simply changed our mind about that,” said Michael Cavanagh, the former chief financial officer of both Comcast and JPMorgan Chase & Co., who became Comcast’s co-CEO last fall.

“We’ve now concluded that future success for each of our businesses will depend on focus, speed, and strategic flexibility that this separation will unlock,” said Cavanagh, who will head NBCUniversal, based at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York, after the split.

Comcast will retain the consumer and business services that employ the majority of the company’s 180,000 workers, including most of its 15,000 Philadelphia-area staff and managers.

Comcast’s CEO after the split will be Michael Angelakis, a Gladwyne resident, who was Comcast’s chief financial officer from 2007 to 2015 and has since headed tech investment firm Atairos while also advising Comcast.

Comcast’s acquistion of NBCUniversal, announced in 2011 and financially structured by Angelakis, was “a brilliant success financially” since Comcast got a bargain price as it was the first multibillion-dollar acquisition after the Great Recession, telecommunications analyst Craig Moffett told clients in a report Monday.

But it didn’t make much sense strategically, Moffett added. While original media and theme parks did little to boost cable sales, the combination turned investors off, depressing the share price.

Angelakis’ return to Comcast is “the best part” of the “wonderful, overdue” breakup decision, Moffett said. He noted that the two successor companies were themselves unlikely to become takeover targets in the near future as it would endanger the tax-free structure of the spin-off and likely require long, expensive work to persuade national and state regulators.

Angelakis told investors on the call: “This place was my home for many years. It’s great to be here. It feels familiar and exciting at the same time.”

The planned move comes after Comcast announced in November 2024 that it was spinning off cable networks such as USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel, as well as CNBC and MSNBC into a new company, Versant. Movie ticketing platform Fandango and the Rotten Tomatoes movie rating site were also included. Versant went public in January at around $45 a share; it has lately traded around $36.

Like other cable companies, Comcast in recent years has shifted its business emphasis away from traditional cable toward streaming and other sources of revenue, such as its movie studio, theme parks and home wireless and internet services.

Media and entertainment company NBCUniversal includes a theme parks division, Universal film and television studios, NBC and Telemundo networks, Peacock, and Bravo. Its portfolio will now include European media business Sky.

Comcast will continue providing internet and phone services to residential and business customers.

Once the transaction is complete, Comcast shareholders will own shares in both Comcast and NBCUniversal. The separation is expected to be completed in about a year. It still needs final approval from Comcast’s board and is subject to regulatory approvals.

Comcast expects to keep a stake of up to 19.9% ownership position in NBCUniversal for up to one year after the spinoff is complete.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.