The boss of the US media giant NBCUniversal lost his job after an affair with an employee. “I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman at the company, which I deeply regret,” Jeff Shell wrote in a statement distributed by parent company Comcast. The media group includes the Hollywood studio Universal and TV channels such as NBC, MSNBC and USA.
The change in management announced on Sunday comes at a critical time for the group. As cable TV revenue dwindles across the industry, NBCUniversal takes on streaming heavyweights Netflix and Disney. The in-house service Peacock had 20 million customers at the end of last year – but posted an operating quarterly loss of around one billion dollars.
Shell has been at the helm of NBCUniversal since early 2020 and has been with the company for nearly two decades. The “Wall Street Journal” reported that Shell had been considered for a job at the parent company before the allegation of inappropriate behavior. At the time, Comcast was exploring a merger of NBCUniversal with video game giant Electronic Arts – and one plan was for EA boss Andrew Wilson to take over the management of the new company.
The complaint against Shell was filed by the woman with whom he had the affair, wrote the Wall Street Journal, citing people who were informed. She is an experienced journalist at the company. At NBCUniversal, a top manager was fired in 2020 after a relationship with the company.
