Comcast CEO Brian Roberts will forgo his entire salary in wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In lieu of taking a paycheck, he will donate the money to charities supporting relief efforts.
The company's other higher-ups will also donate their paychecks in full to various charities. Roberts announced the move in a staff memo on Wednesday.
"Across our businesses, we have committed $500 million to support our employees through continued pay and benefits where operations have been paused or impacted, and we have committed significant resources to support our customers," he said in a statement. "Additionally, effective today, and for the duration of this situation, our senior leaders, Mike Cavanagh [Comcast’s CFO], Dave Watson [Comcast Cable CEO/Senior Exec VP of Comcast], Jeff Shell [NBCUniversal CEO], Jeremy Darroch [Sky CEO] and I have chosen to donate 100% of our salaries to charities that support COVID-19 relief efforts."
Last week, Shell revealed he had tested positive for the coronavirus. He is the first high-level media and entertainment exec to contract it. NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast.
Other top execs who have chosen to forgo their salaries include Disney's Bob Iger and Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi. It has been a growing trend as more and more companies enact pay cuts and layoffs to deal with the COVID-19 fallout.
via Deadline