Former AT&T Corp. chairman Mike Armstrong is winding up his involvement with Comcast Corp. and is stepping down as a director.
Armstrong first joined Comcast as chairman in 2001 as a contingency of Comcast's $54 billion purchase of AT&T's cable operation. But he had no say in actually running the company and kept an office in New York rather than Comcast's Philadelphia headquarters.
He stepped down from that post in 2003 and is leaving the board in June. Armstrong will continue to collect a $900,000 annual consulting fee from Comcast for one more year and will remain "director emeritus", a position with no voting power and few specific duties.
To replace Armstrong, Comcast has nominated Ed Breen, chairman and CEO of troubled Tyco International. Breen is one-time CEO of cable equipment supplier General Instrument and briefly served as president of GI's new owner, Motorola.
Comcast's new proxy statement, filed with the SEC, shows that Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts made $21.1 million in salary, stock and other compensation last year, up 66% from $13.2 million during 2003.
