General Electric has finalized details of Jeff Zucker’s exit deal from NBC Universal, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Zucker will leave “a couple of months” after Comcast Corp. closes its agreement to acquire a 51 percent stake in the media giant from its current owners General Electric and Vivendi — with an exit package of roughly $30 million to $40 million, under the proposed exit deal, those sources said.
The Comcast acquisition is expected to close in early 2011 after regulatory approval.
Sources close to the company steadfastly denied yesterday that any exit package for Zucker existed. GE, in a statement, called reports of an exit package “not true.”
Nonetheless, sources tell The Post that Zucker has been telling friends that such a deal has been finalized.
Just a few months ago, Comcast and GE extended Zucker’s contract until 2013 saying he would continue as CEO of the newly merged entity, though sources say it’s clear Comcast Corp. COO Steve Burke intends to play the lead role.
Comcast, of course, can’t make any management changes until the deal is complete. Zucker has already been floating some trial balloons about his next move, telling MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz that he’s interested in politics.
Details of Zucker’s current pay packet were revealed by Fox Business Network, which cited documents filed in connection with a $4 billion bond offering for NBC Universal. (Fox Business, like The Post, is owned by News Corp.) According to that report, Zucker is paid a base salary of $6.3 million with a minimum bonus of $1.5 million and a possible performance bonus of between $2 million and $4.5 million. Zucker has been with the company since 1986, rising from researcher in NBC’s Olympics department to the top of the tree in February 2007 when he took over as CEO from Bob Wright.
According to a GE’s latest proxy statement, NBC Universal profit fell 28 percent between 2009 and 2008; it was the company’s second-worst performing unit after GE Capital Finance, which dropped 73 percent during the same period.
Sources said Comcast will begin looking at organizational structures in September. NBC and Comcast together have a surfeit of programming talent. Burke will likely have difficulty keeping the present team in place once a new hierarchy is established.
Another source said four of the top players are all making a pitch for the top creative role.
They include Jeff Gaspin, currently NBC Universal Television Entertainment chairman; Bonnie Hammer, NBC Universal Cable Entertainment president; Lauren Zalaznick, president of NBC Universal women and lifestyle entertainment networks and Jeff Shell, Comcast’s president of programming.