Mike Cavanagh quits Carlyle to join Comcast

Mike Cavanagh, the former heir apparent to Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase, has quit Carlyle after less than a year to join Comcast as chief financial officer.

He told colleagues at the private equity group that he had decided he was a "big company guy", according to one person familiar with the matter. Mr Cavanagh did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Comcast, a cable and internet provider valued at $147bn, is much bigger on most measures than Carlyle, although it has a much smaller market value than JPMorgan's $243bn.

Carlyle hired Mr Cavanagh in March last year with considerable fanfare and agreed to buy out his unvested JPMorgan stock at significant expense. He started work in July.

At Carlyle, Mr Cavanagh was co-president alongside Glenn Youngkin, a 20-year veteran of the Washington-based private equity group, who is now seen as having more chance of running it after co-chief executives William Conway and David Rubenstein.

One former Carlyle executive said he had not "left his footprint" on the group during his short tenure and the company was suffering from too much bureaucracy.

Mr Cavanagh's second unexpected departure in 14 months came after Comcast announced in March that its then chief financial officer, Michael Angelakis, would found a new company, backed by the media and technology giant, to invest in smaller media and technology companies. The cable group has agreed to invest $4bn with Mr Angelakis putting in at least $40m.

Comcast last month dropped its $45bn bid for Time Warner Cable after failing to convince regulators that a deal was in the public interest.

Brian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast, said: "I'm so thrilled Mike is joining our team. He is a world-class executive with significant experience leading and overseeing large companies with multiple, complex businesses. He has had a distinguished career that spans more than two decades, is incredibly talented, and will be a great leader for Comcast."

Mr Cavanagh joined Carlyle after telling Mr Dimon that the regulatory burdens and public pressure at the top of JPMorgan had become too much. Mr Cavanagh was with Mr Dimon for much of his career. He was co-head of the corporate and investment banking division when he left; his earlier roles included chief financial officer.

Carlyle had agreed to pay him a "make whole" of about $30m for the unvested JPMorgan stock he was forfeiting. He has already been paid more than $9m of that, although he forfeits the rest. He was also paid more than $5m in bonus and salary.

In a regulatory filing, Comcast said it would pay Mr Cavanagh $10m in performance-based stock, which vests next year, $2.5m in performance-based stock, which vests over three years, and a deferred bonus of $10m. He will also receive $1.8m in annual salary and up to $5.4m in cash bonus.

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