Last March, Mike Cavanagh stunned Wall Street by stepping down as co-CEO of corporate and investment banking with J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), where he was considered by many to be the heir apparent to CEO Jamie Dimon, in order to join private equity firm The Carlyle Group (CG) in a newly-created role of co-president. Now, just 14 months later, Cavanagh is on the move again, this time agreeing to join Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) as chief financial officer.
Cavanagh, who also had served as J.P. Morgan’s CFO at one point, will succeed Mike Angelakis, who is leading a new $4 billion investment platform for the cable giant. Angelakis is expected to serve as a senior advisor to Comcast, and “will assist Mr. Cavanagh with his transition.”
Sources familiar with the situation say that Cavanagh only made his final decision last week, informing Carlyle on Friday. It does not appear that the private equity firm has any plans to replace him, instead pushing forward with Glenn Youngkin as its sole president.
In Comcast’s statement announcing the hire, Cavanagh said: “Comcast is an exceptional company that is well-positioned to win in the rapidly evolving media and technology industries. The opportunity to work closely with [CEO Brian Roberts] and one of the best management teams I’ve come across in any industry was something I could not pass up.”
In its own brief statement, a Carlyle spokesman said: “Mike is going from one great company to another. We have a deep bench of talent.”
Two additional notes on this:
1. Paid out: According to Carlyle’s most recent annual report, Cavanagh received a $5 million cash bonus last year from Carlyle (far more than anyone else at the firm). He also received just under $10 million in “make-whole” payments (leaving around 2/3 of the total package on the table), more than $300k in salary and was slated to receive over $500k in executive incentive program payments just 11 days ago. It’s possible that Carlyle put some sort of clawbacks on the money, but it doesn’t appear to have done so. Comcast has not yet released details of his pay package.
2. Succession planning pox: Speaking of the executive incentive program, it’s worth noting that two of its five participants have now left Carlyle: Cavanagh and CFO Adena Friedman, who left last May after three years in order to rejoin NASDAQ (for a co-president role that is expected to lead to the CEO spot). Yes, the firm has a “deep bench.” But Cavanagh and Friedman were supposed to be part of Carlyle’s next generation of leadership — so important that Carlyle created an entire financial structure to help keep them on board.
I am willing to believe these are one-offs rather than reflections of some sort of structural trouble — Friedman returning “home,” Cavanagh perhaps preferring giant company life — although it doesn’t change the fact that things are not going how Carlyle’s co-founders had intended.
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