Comcast’s parent, NBCUniversal, continues to see Peacock loss rise this quarter. reported Thursday, just a few days after the company announced Jeff Shell has stepped down as CEO of NBCU. Peacock’s Q1 2023 loss was $704 million, up from $456million in the previous year.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, Peacock reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $978 million. The company warned its losses were expected to peak around $3.5 billion by 2018.
However, Peacock also experienced subscriber growth, adding two million paying subscribers to bring the total to 22 million, up from 20 million in the previous quarter — a significant increase compared to the prior year when it had 13 million paying subs.
Peacock reported a 45% increase in revenue to $685 Millions.
Comcast announced Shell’s departure from the firm immediately following an internal investigation of allegations regarding an improper relationship. Shell’s responsibilities fall under Comcast President Mike Cavanagh.
“Today is the last day I will be CEO of NBCUniversal.” I regret having a sexual relationship with a female colleague. Shell said: “I’m so sorry that I disappointed my Comcast coworkers and NBCUniversal.” Shell said: “I am deeply apologetic that I have let down my Comcast co-workers and the NBCUniversal staff.”
Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts talked about this departure Thursday during the earnings conference.
“Let’s acknowledge what you all saw this week. It’s obvious that this is a difficult situation. Roberts said NBCUniversal was a company that had a rich and strong history. “We are also fortunate that Mike Cavanagh, who has been appointed president of NBCUniversal and taken the helm, has stepped in.”
The subscriber gain is a small win for the streamer as its larger rival Disney+ dipped in subscribers for the first time, losing 2.4 million global subscribers to bring the total to 161.8 million.
Netflix missed analysts’ expectations in its first-quarter earnings, only reporting an addition of 1.75 million subscribers versus the estimated 2.3 million.
Roberts wrote today in a letter to shareholders that “our teams performed exceptionally well”. “We generated substantial free cash flow, and adjusted EBITDA as we grew Earnings Per Share. All this while continuing to invest in growth initiatives. “We saw solid revenue growth across our high-margin connectivity businesses and increased Peacock subscriptions by more than 60%.”