Comcast Corporation paid its Co-CEO team a combined $107 million for 2025 — $35.15 million to Chairman and Co-CEO Brian Roberts (up 4 percent from 2024) and $71.76 million to Co-CEO Michael J. Cavanagh (a 154 percent jump from his $28.26 million 2024 package) — in a year when Comcast stock dropped roughly 20 percent.
The say-on-pay vote at Comcast’s June 10 annual meeting, where NLPC presented its independent-chair proposal, received 58.43 percent support — well below the 70 percent level that many governance analysts view as a warning sign. Comcast’s voting structure separates ownership from voting power, however, and the result among Class A common shareholders alone was sharper still.
Per the company’s 2026 proxy statement, Class A common stock (publicly traded under ticker CMCSA) totaled 3.56 billion shares at the April 8 record date, while Class B common stock — owned 100 percent by Roberts (pictured above) — totaled 9.4 million shares but carries by charter exactly one-third of total voting power. Subtracting Roberts’s Class B voting bloc from the reported say-on-pay totals yields an estimated Class A shareholder vote of 32.83 percent for and 67.17 percent against the executive pay package — a more than 2-to-1 margin.
What the Class A shareholders rejected was concrete. Per Variety’s coverage of the proxy disclosure, Cavanagh’s $71.76 million package included $60 million in stock awards. The bulk of that consisted of a one-time $35 million performance-based restricted stock unit grant — disclosed in the company’s December 2025 8-K — tied to his elevation to Co-CEO.
The elevation itself was timed to coincide with the Versant spin-off, through which Comcast offloaded its cable networks — the same assets Comcast acquired as part of its NBCUniversal transaction and which analysts now value at only a fraction of the price Comcast originally paid. The board‘s Compensation Committee defended Roberts’s pay with reference to that same spin-off as a “successful execution” and cited Cavanagh’s promotion as evidence Roberts is developing senior leadership talent.
That repudiation landed hardest on the Compensation and Human Capital Committee directors. The committee in 2026 consists of Edward D. Breen (Chair and Lead Independent Director), Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., and Louise F. Brady.
Baltimore drew the lowest support of any director on the Comcast ballot — 77.26 percent reported and 63.30 percent among Class A shareholders alone. The Class A figure sits well below the 80 percent threshold institutional investors usually treat as a governance warning marker. Baltimore, who joined the Comcast board in March 2023, also serves as Chairman and CEO of Park Hotels & Resorts.
Breen drew 85.46 percent reported and 76.54 percent Class A — also under the 80 percent threshold. He has served on the Comcast board since February 2014 and serves as Executive Chairman of DuPont. Brady, who joined the board in October 2023, drew higher support reflecting her shorter tenure: 98.55 percent reported, 97.66 percent Class A.
Two of the three Compensation Committee directors thus drew Class A support levels institutional investors and proxy advisors recognize as governance concerns. Members of the Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee faced similar pressure. Kenneth J. Bacon, the committee chair since 2020 and a Comcast director since November 2002, drew 80.40 percent reported support but only 68.37 percent Class A. Jeffrey A. Honickman drew 80.48 percent Class A. Madeline S. Bell drew 82.07 percent Class A.
The structural significance of this pattern is unavoidable. Comcast’s dual-class structure effectively converts Class A shareholders into a minority constituency on every voting matter. Roberts’s one-third voting bloc combined with even modest Class A support gives Roberts decisive influence over the outcome of virtually every shareholder vote, including the $71.76 million package the board approved for Cavanagh. The directors who oversee that pay structure can be repudiated by Class A holders without practical consequence to their continued service.
NLPC’s independent board chair proposal at the June 10 meeting drew 26.40 percent reported support but 42.73 percent Class A support — nearly identical to the approximately 43 percent non-Roberts support NLPC’s similar proposal drew at the 2025 Comcast annual meeting. The stability of that Class A support level — roughly four-in-ten Comcast shareholders excluding Roberts voting in favor of independent chair governance, two years running — is the closest measure available of what the broader investor base thinks about the leadership Roberts has assembled and the structure that keeps him in place.
