Fewer managers. The decisions still end up one level higher.

On Thursday 22 October 2026, Comcast’s leadership walked analysts through what lies ahead. Co-CEO Michael Cavanagh spoke of „the most significant operating and cost transformation in our company’s history“.¹ CFO Jason Armstrong put it more bluntly: „We are fundamentally redesigning our organization.“¹

Comcast will simplify its structure and remove management layers. More money goes into technology, above all AI in customer experience, and the company announced partnerships with two AI agent providers. The transformation itself is expected to cost more than a billion dollars next quarter. The company had around 179,000 employees at the end of 2025.¹ Executives did not address layoffs on the call. According to sources quoted by The Philadelphia Inquirer, cuts are expected and some have begun.¹

Two weeks earlier, HubSpot announced a similar move. It eliminated about 660 positions, roughly 7% of the company. CEO Yamini Rangan wrote that the company needs to „fundamentally change the way we are organized to compete and win“. The aim is a flatter structure with fewer management layers and decisions made closer to the people doing the work.²

Anyone leading a team in such a company hears one thing above all in announcements like these: the layer above or below them is going. The decisions that layer used to make, however, do not go with it. Someone has to make them from Monday. And this is where a question begins that few people ask while planning: who, exactly.