Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts just sold $20.4 million worth of stock in the media giant.
The circa 469.5 million Class A common shares were divested Tuesday, according to an SEC filing. It’s not a significant part of his holdings, and Deadline hears the sale is for year-end planning purposes, which is not unusual.
Most of the shares sold were from awards of restricted stock units that were part of Roberts’ compensation package this year, with a smaller portion from exercising options.
Along with the chief executive’s Class A holdings, he owns all of the company’s Class B shares (which are not publicly traded), which gives him about 33.3% of voting power.
The dual share structure is common among family-owned media companies, although the Roberts’ control has been relatively drama-free versus the Redstones with Paramount and the Murdochs with News Corp. and Fox.
Roberts will have the same controlling stake in a new stand-alone company made up of NBCUniversal cable networks announced this week once that is spun out the shareholders by the end of next year.
