Mark Hoffman, CNBC's long-serving chairman, is set to leave the market-leading financial news channel next month, the Comcast (CMCSA)-owned group confirmed Tuesday.
Hoffman, 65, assumed the role of president in 2005, when the group will still under the broader umbrella of General Electric (GE), and was named chairman in 2015. CNBC, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, was purchased by Comcast as part of a $13.75 billion media deal that closed in 2013.
While no direct successor has been named, CNBC's KC Sullivan, who currently runs NBC Universal's advertising partnerships business in London, will take on the role of president when Hoffman leaves on September 12.
“Mark has overseen the steady continued growth of CNBC as the world’s #1 business and money news brand,” said Cesar Conde, who overseas NBCUniversal, MSNBC and CNBC. “No business news organization comes close to the reach and influence of CNBC, a true testament to Mark’s leadership.”
Comcast shares were marked 0.5% lower in mid-day trading Tuesday to change hands at $40.37 each, pegging their year-to-date decline at around 20.5%.
Comcast said last month that revenues at NBCUniversal, its flagship media unit, rose 18.7% over the second quarter to $9.45 billion, a far faster growth rate than its larger cable business, which rose 3.7% to $16.6 billon. Comcast doesn't break-out viewing, revenue or profitability figures for CNBC.
“We are in the business of business so it’s important to note we’ve never been more profitable, setting record after record in financial performance, year after year, as we maneuvered through economic cycles, exogenous events and the historic secular change that accompanied the information age," Hoffman said in a memo to CNBC employees announcing his departure.
