Comcast Corp. is creating a new company with Chief Financial Officer Michael J. Angelakis that will focus on investments in growth businesses around the world.
The new firm will have capital commitments of as much as $4.1 billion, with $4 billion coming from Philadelphia-based Comcast. Angelakis, who joined the largest U.S. cable company in 2007, will invest at least $40 million personally, according to a statement Tuesday.
Technology giants like Cisco Systems, Intel Corp. and Google have used venture funds to reap financial returns while also incubating startups focused on promising new technologies and businesses. In this case, Angelakis may have sought a career move at the same time Comcast was looking for investment opportunities, said Andrew Hamerling, a money manager at Wavelength Asset Management, which owns shares in Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
The CFO, who will remain a senior adviser when a successor is found, is taking a new role while Comcast still awaits regulatory approval for its $45.2 billion plan to buy Time Warner Cable Inc. Angelakis will assist with the transition to the new finance chief and begin the integration process for the Time Warner Cable deal.
“Michael is highly respected on Wall Street for both his financial and strategic capabilities,” said Paul Sweeney, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “The financial backing from Comcast appears to be a very attractive opportunity for him.”
The new company will have an exclusive, 10-year partnership with Comcast as sole outside investor.
Angelakis, who is deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, will get annual compensation of $8 million as chief executive officer of the new company, and $100,000 as Comcast’s senior adviser, according to a filing. Before joining Comcast as co-CFO eight years ago, he was a managing director at Providence Equity Partners, a private equity firm investing in technology, media and communications businesses.
“The ability to establish entrepreneurial ventures that partner with and participate in the growth of innovative companies can be an important driver of strategic and financial value creation for our company,” Comcast Chief Executive Officer Brian L. Roberts said in the statement.
Angelakis is moving on as the pay-TV industry goes through disruption. With more video programming being offered through online services like Netflix and Amazon, the number of Americans signing up for traditional packages of dozens of channels is slowing. And companies including Dish Network Corp. are further threatening the model with cheaper Web offers.
Comcast, which also owns NBC broadcast network, cable networks like USA, the Universal film studio and a stake in Hulu, has meanwhile been ramping its broadband offerings to fuel sales growth. The company also runs a venture capital arm, called Comcast Ventures, that has an office in Silicon Valley and makes smaller investments.
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