center city philadelphia pennsylvania type public traded as nasdaq cmcsa nasdaq 100 component s & p 500 component nasdaq cmcsk 1987 2015 citation needed industry telecommunications mass media founded june 28 1963 ; 53 years ago 1963 06 28 tupelo mississippi united states founder ralph j. roberts daniel aaron 1 julian a. brodsky headquarters philadelphia pennsylvania u.s. area served worldwide 2 key people brian l. roberts chairman & ceo michael cavanagh 3 senior executive vice president cfo david l. cohen executive vice president products movie production tv production theme parks broadcasting cable television internet voip phone venture capital home security systems sport management revenue us 74.51 billion 2015 4 operating income us 16.00 billion 2015 4 net income us 8.16 billion 2015 4 total assets us 166.57 billion 2015 4 total equity us 52.27 billion 2015 4 owner roberts family trust 33 % controlling stake 5 6 7 number of employees 153 000 dec 2015 8 divisions comcast cable nbcuniversal 9 subsidiaries midco 49 % comcast interactive media comcast spectacor comcast ventures website corporate.comcast.com comcast corporation formerly registered as comcast holdings note 1 is an american global mass media conglomerate and is the largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world by revenue . 2 it is the second largest pay tv company after the at & t directv acquisition largest cable tv company and largest home internet service provider in the united states and the nation s third largest home telephone service provider . comcast services u.s. residential and commercial customers in 40 states and the district of columbia . 10 the company s headquarters are located in philadelphia pennsylvania . as the owner of the international media company nbcuniversal since 2011 11 12 13 14 comcast is a producer of feature films and television programs intended for theatrical exhibition and over the air and cable television broadcast . comcast operates multiple cable only channels including e entertainment television the golf channel the weather channel the scifi channel united states msnbc cnbc and nbcsn over the air national broadcast network channels nbc and telemundo the film production studio universal pictures and universal parks & resorts in los angeles and orlando . the first universal theme park outside of the u.s. universal studios japan opened in 2001 followed by universal studios singapore in 2011 . few new locations are being planned or developed for future operation . 15 comcast also has significant holdings in digital distribution theplatform . in february 2014 the company agreed to merge with time warner cable in an equity swap deal worth 45.2 billion . under the terms of the agreement comcast was to acquire 100 % of time warner cable . 16 however on april 24 2015 comcast terminated the agreement . comcast has been criticized for multiple reasons . the company s customer satisfaction often ranks among the lowest in the cable industry . 17 18 comcast has violated net neutrality practices in the past ; and despite comcast s commitment to a narrow definition of net neutrality 19 critics advocate a definition of which precludes distinction between comcast s private network services and the rest of the internet . 20 critics also point out a lack of competition in the vast majority of comcast s service area ; there is limited competition among cable providers . 21 given comcast s negotiating power as a large isp some suspect that comcast could leverage paid peering agreements to unfairly influence end user connection speeds . its ownership of both content production in nbcuniversal and content distribution as an isp has raised antitrust concerns . these issues in addition to others led to comcast being dubbed the worst company in america by the consumerist in 2010 and 2014 . 22 23 also despite being publicly traded comcast is a family owned business with the roberts family owning a controlling stake and multiple generations serving as company executives 7 contents 1 overview 1.1 leadership 1.2 corporate offices 1.3 employee relations 1.4 financial performance 1.5 lobbying and electoral fundraising 1.6 philanthropy 2 history 2.1 american cable systems 2.2 comcast 2.3 increasing market share 1990 2000 2.4 largest us cable provider 2001 present 2.4.1 adelphia purchase 2.4.2 nbcuniversal 2.4.3 time warner cable 2.4.4 dreamworks animation 2.4.5 cellular service 3 divisions and subsidiaries 3.1 comcast cable xfinity 3.2 nbcuniversal 3.3 professional sports 3.4 venture capital 3.5 dreamworks animation 4 criticism and controversy 5 notes 6 references 7 external links overview edit leadership edit comcast is sometimes described as a family business . 24 brian l. roberts chairman president and ceo of comcast is the son of co founder ralph roberts . roberts owns or controls just over 1 % of all comcast shares but all of the class b supervoting shares which gives him an undilutable 33 % voting power over the company . 25 legal expert susan p. crawford has said this gives him effective control over its comcast s every step . 26 in 2010 he was one of the highest paid executives in the united states with total compensation of about 31 million . 26 corporate offices edit comcast is headquartered in philadelphia pennsylvania and also has corporate offices in atlanta detroit denver and manchester new hampshire . 27 on january 3 2005 comcast announced that it would become the anchor tenant in the new comcast center in downtown philadelphia . the 975 ft 297 m skyscraper is the tallest building in pennsylvania . comcast has begun construction on a second 1 121 ft 342 m skyscraper directly adjacent to the original comcast headquarters in the summer of 2014 . 28 employee relations edit the company is often criticized by both the media and its own staff for its less upstanding policies regarding employee relations . a 2012 reddit post written by an anonymous comcast call center employee eager to share their negative experiences with the public received attention from publications including the huffington post . 29 a 2014 investigative series published by the verge involved interviews with 150 of comcast s employees . it sought to examine why the company has become so widely criticized by its customers the media and even members of its own staff . the series claimed part of the problem is internal and that comcast s staff endures unreasonable corporate policies . according to the report customer service has been replaced by an obsession with sales ; technicians are understaffed while tech support is poorly trained ; and the company is hobbled by internal fragmentation . 30 a widely read article penned by an anonymous call center employee working for comcast appeared in november 2014 on cracked . titled five nightmares you live while working for america s worst company the article also claimed that comcast is obsessed with sales doesn t train its employees properly and concluded that the system makes good customer service impossible . 31 comcast has also earned a reputation for being anti union . according to one of the company s training manuals comcast does not feel union representation is in the best interest of its employees customers or shareholders . 32 a dispute in 2004 with cwa a labor union that represented many employees at comcast s offices in beaverton oregon led to allegations of management intimidating workers requiring them to attend anti union meetings and unwarranted disciplinary action for union members . 33 in 2011 comcast received criticism from writers guild of america for its policies in regards to unions . 34 despite these criticisms comcast has appeared on multiple top places to work lists . in 2009 it was included on cablefax magazine s top 10 places to work in cable which cited its scale savvy and vision . 35 similarly the philadelphia business journal awarded comcast the silver medal among extra large companies in philadelphia with the gold medal going to partner organization comcast spectacor . 36 37 the boston globe found comcast to be that city s top place to work in 2009 . 38 employee diversity is also an attribute upon which comcast receives strong marks . in 2008 black enterprise magazine rated comcast among the top 15 companies for workforce diversity . 39 comcast was also named a top 2014 workplace by the washington post in their annual feature . 40 financial performance edit the book value of the company nearly doubled from 8.19 a share in 1999 to 15 a share in 2009 . revenues grew sixfold from 1999 s 6 billion to almost 36 billion in 2009 . net profit margin rose from 4.2 % in 1999 to 8.4 % in 2009 with operating margins improving 31 percent and return on equity doubling to 6.7 percent in the same time span . between 1999 and 2009 return on capital nearly tripled to 7 percent . 41 comcast reported first quarter 2012 profit increases of 30 % due to increase in high speed internet customers . 42 in february 2014 comcast generated 1.1 billion in revenue during the first quarter due to the sochi olympics . 43 lobbying and electoral fundraising edit with 18.8 million spent in 2013 comcast has the seventh largest lobbying budget of any individual company or organization in the united states . 44 comcast employs multiple former us congressmen as lobbyists . 45 the national cable & telecommunications association which has multiple comcast executives on its board also represents comcast and other cable companies as the fifth largest lobbying organization in the united states spending 19.8 million in 2013 . 44 comcast was among the top backers of barack obama s presidential runs with comcast vice president david cohen raising over 2.2 million from 2007 to 2012 . 46 47 cohen has been described by many sources as influential in the us government 48 though he is no longer a registered lobbyist as the time he spends lobbying falls short of the 20 % which requires official registration . 49 comcast s pac the comcast corporation and nbcuniversal political action committee is the among the largest pacs in the us raising about 3.7 million from 2011 2012 for the campaigns of various candidates for office in the united states federal government . 50 comcast is also a major backer of the national cable and telecommunications association political action committee which raised 2.6 million from 2011 2012 . 51 52 comcast spent the most money of any organization in support of the stop online piracy and protect ip bills spending roughly 5 million to lobby for their passage . 53 comcast also backs lobbying and pacs on a regional level backing organizations such as the tennessee cable telecommunications association 54 and the broadband communications association of washington pac . 55 comcast and other cable companies have lobbied state governments to pass legislation restricting or banning individual cities from offering public broadband service . 56 municipal broadband restrictions of varying scope have been passed in a total of 20 us states . 57 philanthropy edit comcast operates most of its philanthropic programs through its charitable arm the comcast foundation . the organization is particularly focused on minority groups such as the hispanic national council of la raza . in 2014 the foundation reported grants totaling over 591 000 to nonprofits in parts of pennsylvania ohio maryland and west virginia . 58 outside the comcast foundation comcast offers free or low cost internet to many low income households through a program called internet essentials . comcast also has run trials for this program for senior citizens in florida and for college students in chicago and denver . comcast offers low cost internet and cable service to schools subsidized by general broadband consumers through the us government s e rate program . 59 critics have noted that many of the strongest supporters of comcast s business deals have received substantial funding from the comcast foundation . 45 60 history edit american cable systems edit in 1963 ralph j. roberts in conjunction with his two business partners daniel