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December 2, 2008 10:28:09 AM CST

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Comcast Kills Payout Plan for Founder

Posted Feb 14, 08 6:46 AM CST in Business,  Technology 

(Newser) – Responding to shareholder complaints, the 87-year-old founder of Cable giant Comcast will cut his annual salary to $1 and the company will scrap a multi-million-dollar death benefit negotiated in December that would have paid heirs his salary for five years, the Wall Street Journal reports. Ralph Roberts, father of CEO Brian Roberts and chairman of Comcast's executive and finance committee, was paid $1.85 million in 2007.

Major shareholder Chieftain Capital Management Inc. last month called for the ouster of Brian Roberts as CEO, criticizing his father’s death benefit as lavish. Comcast said the elder Roberts requested the deal be scrapped to avoid controversy. Comcast’s stock dropped by a third in 2007 as competition has cut its margins. Fourth-quarter earnings will be released today.

Sources Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek

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Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, left, and television and radio personality Ryan Seacrest, right, help announce new Comcast products at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008....   (Associated Press)
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and his father and founder of the Philadelphia-based company, Ralph Roberts.   (Getty Images)
A technician for Comcast Corp. heads out on a job in this Feb. 2, 2006 file photo in Salt Lake City. Comcast Corp. shares plunged to a new annual low Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007 after the cable operator said...   (Associated Press)
A sign bearing Comcast's name hangs in the lobby of its state headquarters in Sandy, Utah. in this Nov. 3, 2005 file photo. Comcast Corp., the nation's biggest cable TV systems operator, said Thursday,...   (Associated Press)
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