Comcast is expecting a tough fourth quarter as it digs out from Hurricane Ian in Florida and faces headwinds from a tough economy that will necessitate cost cuts and job eliminations.
Speaking on the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Comcast president and chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh said an “increasingly challenged economic environment” would force belt-tightening.
“We expect we will be taking severance and other cost-reduction related changes in the fourth quarter in anticipation of expense reductions,” Cavanagh said.
Those actions would provide financial benefits to the company in 2023 and beyond, he said.
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Comcast’s NBCU unit sees growth (excluding Peacock) being “impacted by a gradual acceleration in pay TV cord-cutting, as well as some deterioration in the ad market reflecting broader economic uncertainty,” Cavanagh said.
Comcast Cable was the provider hit hardest by Hurricane Ian in Florida. Cavanagh said the destruction of homes and businesses would result in the company having a net loss of broadband customers in the fourth quarter.
“Hurricane Ian has impacted our footprint in Southwest Florida, causing outages and damage to our cable network that our cable team is still repairing,” he said.
Despite restoration efforts, there will be tens of thousands of residences that won’t be turned back on during the quarter.
Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson said the response to the hurricane by employees was “incredible,” with people getting to work immediately even though there was damage to their own homes.
“We run the business very locally,” he said, with people living in the community. ”They started rebuilding and repairing right away.” ■
