Comcast CFO Cavanagh gets $41 million in 2015

Comcast's new chief financial officer, Mike Cavanagh, knocked it out of the ballpark with compensation in 2015 of $40.6 million. He officially began his job as CFO on July 1.

A former New York banking executive, Cavanagh earned more than Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts, who was compensated $36.2 million, and NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke, with $33.7 million, according to the cable giant's regulatory filing, made Friday.

Based on its national rankings, Bloomberg News said Cavanagh was the best-paid chief financial officer in the United States.

Comcast's six highest-paid executives - Cavanagh, Roberts, Burke, and Comcast Cable division CEO Neil Smit, senior executive vice president David L. Cohen, and former CFO Michael Angelakis - were compensated a total of $176.5 million in 2015.

Angelakis now runs a $4 billion Comcast-backed investment firm, Atairos, with offices in New York City and Bryn Mawr. Atairos announced Monday it would invest $250 million into the ailing discount-deals website Groupon.

A Comcast spokesman said Friday that Cavanagh's compensation included a stock-based $12.5 million signing bonus and $10 million in deferred compensation that replaced money he forfeited when he left his prior employer, private-equity giant Carlyle Group.

Prior to Carlyle, Cavanagh, 50, was considered a protégé of New York banker Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase. Cavanagh had been co-CEO of JPMorgan's corporate and investment bank.

Ruth Porat, chief financial officer at Google parent Alphabet Inc., was the second-best-paid CFO, with a compensation of $31 million for 2015, Bloomberg News said. Porat joined Alphabet last year.

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