Comcast CFO Notes Ongoing Epic Universe Softness, Dinging Stock; NBCU Split on Track

Comcast chief financial officer Jason Armstrong defended the company’s pending spinoff of NBCUniversal from its core connectivity operations, saying that “after a decade-plus building two strong businesses … there’s a bit of a divergence in terms of what [they] are focused on.” He also told investors at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference today that June quarter softness at Universal’s Orlando theme parks, which spooked investors after the latest earnings, is continuing. Comcast stock fell more than 7% today after his Q&A at the media confab. “Let me just rewind the clock” on the split, he said. “First, we had to answer some questions “on the viability of these companies as standalone businesses. First, could we put leadership teams in place? I think we’ve answered that already with Mike Cavanagh and Michael Angelakis.” Comcast in late June announced plans to split NBCU and Sky from its broadband and wireless business. The news was a bit dizzying coming only about six months after the media giant completed the spinoff of most of its linear networks and some digital businesses into the new Versant Media Group. Watch on Deadline Current Comcast president and co-CEO Cavanagh will lead NBCU. “He’s really kind of been running [it] for the last three years, so it’s a very natural transition into that role.” Former Comcast CFO and vice chair Angelakis will return as CEO of Comcast. He’s back as a strategic advisor until then. The company will be filling out teams around the two executives. Comcast brass also had to considered the position of both businesses. “If you look at the connectivity and technology side, we’re a scale leader in broadband. We’re a challenger in wireless. We’re the only business services company at scale that’s growing with a massive amount of room to go,” Armstrong said. He also described a highly competitive, fast changing business that is requires immense focus. At NBCU, he noted the strong overall portfolio, depth of IP and theme parks. “You sort of step back and say you’ve got a top three studio. You’ve got a top two global experiences business. You have a streaming business that’s mostly domestic focused but [has] made its way to profitability and the future’s bright.” So, the idea is a split “sets both businesses up well.” Both will have strong investment grade balance sheets post-split. “Now it’s about the execution phase … all the things that we have to put in place to separate. We’ve given a target of middle of next year and don’t see any issues with that. We’re off and running towards it.” On Epic Universe, Armstrong noted ongoing “near-term headwinds” after a terrific opening in May of 2025 “lifted all boats in the Orlando market for us,” including the legacy parks, for some time. But “what we started to see in June was softness in Orlando, and we articulated that on the [earnings] call. As we move through the [current] quarter, I would tell you I don’t think anything’s changed. We’re continuing to see softness in that market.” He attributed the shift to “equal parts a little bit macro, gas prices, airfare … But also, there clearly was a pull-forward. You’ve seen the park. You know, Epic’s a fantastic park. There was a ton of pent-up demand. “If you rewind the clock a year ago, that was sort of the discussion. Here we are a year later, comping against that, and so I think that’s playing a little bit of a role now.” “We feel confident that it was the right investment,” he said. “How are we doing versus two years ago? … We are up materially in every metric. That’s attendance, per caps, and overall financial performance. And we’re rating really well in guest satisfaction. So to me, those are the indicators of future performance. That’s what we’re focused on.”