NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell on Sunday left his function instantly after he admitted an “inappropriate relationship” with a lady within the comany, guardian firm Comcast introduced.

“At present is my final day as CEO of NBCUniversal. I had an inappropriate relationship with a lady within the firm, which I deeply remorse. I am really sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down, they’re essentially the most proficient folks within the enterprise and the chance to work with them the final 19 years has been a privilege,” Shell stated in an announcement.

Comcast employed exterior counsel and commenced an inner investigation following a grievance. The grievance was filed by the girl with whom Shell stated he had an “inappropriate relationship,” in line with folks conversant in the matter.

An organization e-mail stated Shell’s crew will report back to Comcast President Mike Cavanagh. The corporate hasn’t been interviewing or looking for a alternative, and has no plans to take action instantly, stated an individual near the matter. Shell, in addition to different leaders at NBCUniversal, have already been reporting into Cavanagh for a while and he is aware of the enterprise nicely, the individual stated.

“We’re disenchanted to share this information with you. We constructed this firm on a tradition of integrity. Nothing is extra necessary than how we deal with one another. You need to rely in your leaders to create a protected and respectful office. When our rules and insurance policies are violated, we’ll all the time transfer rapidly to take applicable motion, as we’ve got finished right here,” Cavanagh and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts stated in a separate assertion.

Roberts can even get extra concerned with the NBCUniversal enterprise alongside Cavanagh, the individual stated.

Shell, who’s married, took over as CEO of NBCUniversal in January 2020. He oversaw the corporate’s theme parks, its Peacock streaming service, sports activities manufacturing operations, tv stations group and leisure and information tv networks like NBC Information.

A lot of his time as CEO was formed by the Covid pandemic, which compelled the U.S. and far of the world to close down weeks into his new place. Throughout that point theme parks and film theaters had been shuttered, and the leisure business was upended as movie and TV manufacturing shut down.

Shell, who succeeded Steve Burke, ushered within the launch of Peacock, NBCUniversal’s reply to the streaming wars. Whereas Peacock was formulated below Burke, the streaming service grew and added extra subscribers and content material with Shell on the helm.

Simply months after taking the CEO put up, Shell reshaped NBCUniversal’s enterprise and broke down the fiefdoms within the TV phase, with the goal of streaming and conventional TV working extra intently collectively.

As a part of the restructuring, layoffs passed off that had been anticipated to have an effect on lower than 10% of the then-35,000 full-time workers. Cuts had been made throughout all of NBCUniversal’s enterprise segments.

He had risen via the ranks of Comcast and NBCUniversal through the years.

One in every of his earliest roles was as president of Comcast’s programming group, the place he managed nationwide and regional TV networks, together with E! He had additionally beforehand served because the chairman of NBCUniversal Worldwide, and later served because the chairman of the Common Filmed Leisure Group from 2013 to 2019. Earlier than taking the helm as CEO, Shell was chairman of NBCUniversal Movie and Leisure.

Comcast is because of report earnings Thursday.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the guardian firm of CNBC.