• Comcast, Sky and NBCU executives donate salaries to coronavirus-relief efforts
  • 100% of salaries will go to charities
  • Comcast has committed $500 million to continue pay and benefits for impacted employees

Jeremy Darroch Sky CEO head shot

Jeremy Darroch: Donates salary to coronavirus relief efforts

Comcast, Sky and NBCUniversal executives have pledged to donate their salaries towards charities and efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jeremy Darroch, chief executive of Comcast-owned Sky Group, is joining the move led by Comcast chairman and chief executive officer Brian L. Roberts in donating his salary to coronavirus relief efforts.

A memo sent to Comcast’s employees around the world on Wednesday confirmed that full salaries would be donated by Roberts and Darroch, along with Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh, Comcast Cable chief Dave Watson.

Comcast has committed $500 million to continue pay and benefits for employees that have been affected by shutdowns.

Roberts wrote: “For the duration of this situation, our senior leaders, Mike Cavanagh, Dave Watson, Jeff Shell, Jeremy Darroch and I have chosen to donate 100% of our salaries to charities that support Covid-19 relief efforts. We hope in some small way we can make this time easier on our employees, our local communities and our customers.”

As well as Sky Group, the Philadelphia-based conglomerate counts NBCUniversal and Xfinity among its holdings.

Roberts added: “I am also grateful to the leadership across Comcast, NBCUniversal and Sky who have stepped up again and again to do the right thing and take care of our teams.

“Every employee in every location around the world who is able to work from home is doing so, and where we have people who need to be in an office or in the field, we are doing everything possible to make their environments clean and safe,” he added.

According to Variety, Roberts earned $3.2 million in salary in 2018, in addition to shares that took his total compensation to around $35 million.

Cavanagh earned $2 million in salary and a total compensation of $21.7 million. Watson earned $1.5 million in salary and a total of $14.8 million.