, one of a troika that founded the cable-TV company in the 1960s, and his son, Brian, 62, who is chief executive officer and chairman, were the only prior presidents in the company’s history, Comcast said. Cavanagh, also the company’s chief financial officer, has not been appointed to the board.
Last month, Comcast’s board sought to bolster the company’s stock by purchasing up to $20 billion in the shares as investors sold them. Comcast said that it had already repurchased $9 billion this year. Cavanagh said in a statement that he looks “forward to working together to shape the bright future of Comcast.” He was compensated $27.4 million last year.
Comcast, the biggest publicly traded company based in Philadelphia with about 8,000 employees downtown, faces new competition in its bread-and-butter broadband business with . In recent years, Comcast also has struggled to transition to streaming entertainment from broadcast television and cable-TV formats.