Shareholders To Comcast: Fire The CEO

Chieftain Capital Management Inc., owns 2% of Comcast (about 60 million shares) and is unhappy with the way its investment has been performing. They’re calling the management tenure of CEO Brian “Bad Install” Roberts a “Comcastrophe,” a term that might just good enough to be Mr. Robert’s new official Consumerist nickname. Brian “Comcastrophe” Roberts. We like it.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Chieftain Capital Management Inc., which manages 60.5 million Comcast shares, or about 2% of stock outstanding, this week wrote to Comcast calling for the ouster of Chief Executive Brian Roberts, describing his management as a “Comcastrophe” for shareholders after a decade of “zero return.”
Chieftain also wants Comcast to return cash to shareholders, including a “meaningful” dividend; revise its executive compensation and dismantle its dual-class voting structure, which allows Mr. Roberts’s family to effectively control the Philadelphia company despite owning only a small percentage of the stock.

Chieftain’s call for action reflects intensifying frustration on Wall Street with Comcast’s performance. Comcast, the biggest cable operator in the U.S. by subscribers, has seen its stock fall 40% in the past year as a growing number of cable customers defect to new TV services offered by phone companies like Verizon Communications Inc. Comcast’s stock took a particular hit after third-quarter earnings showed a slowdown in its ability to add customers.

“We don’t think the company is well-run and our view is shared by many others,” Chieftain managing director Glenn Greenberg said in an interview. “We hope this will be a wake-up call to the board.”

Comcast Holder Seeks CEO’s Dismissal [WSJ]

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