Former Susquehanna Media Co. CEO Peter Brubaker — who at one point tried to buy that company — has taken a job at New York cable investment banker Waller Capital Corp. as a senior adviser, hoping to help his new firm find some new opportunities.
Brubaker, who retired as CEO of Susquehanna a year ago, started at Waller last week.
Brubaker started at Susquehanna parent Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co. in 1977, and by 1995 was in charge of Susquehanna Media, including 230,000-subscriber cable company Susquehanna Communications. Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff last year sold off its dinnerware and home-accessories unit, its radio stations and its cable systems (the last to Comcast Corp.).
Brubaker, who’d already retired, was an early bidder for the assets, but lost out to Comcast.
“I wasn’t looking for another CEO position,” Brubaker said last week in discussing his new gig.
With the consolidation in cable and radio industries, opportunities for deals are dwindling. So he sees his role as an opportunity for Waller to expand into other areas.
“From my perspective, I would like to see the firm broaden its focus both from an industry perspective, but also from the traditional broker role to broader-based, advisory type work,” Brubaker said. “My background is in radio broadcasting as well as in cable. What I didn’t realize until I started to get a bit more involved with John [Waller] is that they have been doing a fair amount on the telephony side of things.”
He plans to work with some telephony clients, advising them on executing strategic plans.
