When Brian Roberts graduated from Penn as a 22-year-old, he entered the family business as a cable subscriptions salesman in Trenton, N.J. At the time, in the early 1980s, the revenues of the regional cable company hovered around $20 million.
Now the Comcast Corporation, a fully integrated media conglomerate, boasts revenues of approximately $20 billion.
Comcast Corporation Chairman and CEO Roberts addressed a crowd of approximately 85 Wharton students yesterday morning in Huntsman Hall about the history of his company, the future of communication and his experiences as a student.
"This is the most intellectually challenging time to be in business," Roberts said.
Comcast is currently the largest cable company in the nation, serving 21 million customers, with a market capitalization of $65.3 billion and revenues of $19.3 billion, according to Reuters financial service.
"We are in the position to reinvent television," Roberts said. "All energy has been focused on giving customers as much content as is possible on demand."
Roberts spoke about the issue of "convergence," which he believes has been largely driven by digitization. This includes bringing content and services such as digital phones into homes through broadband services.
Roberts, who said he "loved his Penn experience," believes the single most important lesson he learned about business as a student in Wharton was to behave ethically.
The lesson has special relevance in today's society, where "business leaders are put in the spotlight and come to personify entire corporations," according to Roberts.
And with Roberts' leadership and vision, Comcast has climbed to the top of the media industry.
"Our biggest deal was two years ago with the acquisition of AT&T; Broadband," he said. "The deal made us a national company."
Comcast also has deals with the National Football League, the New York Mets baseball team, and has partially acquired MGM studios.
"What he has been able to accomplish with his aggressive management team has been very impressive," second-year MBA student Obed Martinez said.
"He was very down to earth, witty and candid about his experiences," Martinez added. "He spoke about things that didn't work out well."
Introducing Roberts was Wharton Dean Patrick Harker.
Roberts was the second speaker in the Wharton Dean's Lecture Series, following an address by Intel Chairman Andrew Grove earlier this year at the business school's San Francisco campus.
Comcast -- a combination of the words communication and broadcast -- was founded by Ralph Roberts in 1963 with the purchase of a single cable television system in Tupelo, Miss., according to Roberts.
