Mike Cavanagh couldn’t have picked a trickier time to take over NBCUniversal.

Jeff Shell, who oversaw the media firm earlier than him, was fired after an investigation into sexual harassment. Linda Yaccarino, who ran the corporate’s multibillion-dollar advert enterprise, left abruptly this month to become the chief executive of Twitter.

NBCUniversal is dropping billions on its streaming service, Peacock, whereas viewership of its conventional TV networks continues to fade. And Hollywood’s writers are on strike.

But for Mr. Cavanagh, 57 — who just lately grew to become the appearing head of NBCUniversal after his promotion final yr to be president of Comcast, NBCUniversal’s dad or mum firm — it could not come near the hardest state of affairs he has confronted in his profession.

In 2008, when the U.S. monetary system was on the point of failure, Mr. Cavanagh was a senior govt at JPMorgan Chase, one of many few main banks that was not susceptible to collapse. He hung out alongside Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief govt, and different executives throughout all-nighters to work out the small print of buying Bear Stearns, a rival on the verge of chapter.

“He’s not a chest-thumper,” Mr. Dimon stated of Mr. Cavanagh in an interview. “He works hard, he sweats the details, and he gives a damn.”

Though he has spent a lot of his skilled profession rubbing shoulders with the ultrawealthy, Mr. Cavanagh, a Long Island native and father of three, comes from a middle-class background. He spent the summer time earlier than school pumping fuel at a filling station and coated bills at Yale by working summer time building jobs.

He has grow to be one of many few Comcast executives whom Brian Roberts, the corporate’s chief govt, often consults on probably the most delicate issues. Mr. Cavanagh was concerned in discussions final yr to mix NBCUniversal with the online game studio Electronic Arts, a deal that by no means got here to fruition.

Comcast has not named Mr. Cavanagh because the everlasting head of NBCUniversal, a media empire that features the Universal Pictures film studio, the NBC broadcast community, NBC News and MSNBC. But Comcast has described his job as a long-term appointment — and he has been appearing as if he plans to be in cost for the long term.

Since taking on for Mr. Shell final month, he has traveled to Los Angeles to satisfy with movie executives, together with Donna Langley, the pinnacle of Universal Studios, and Chris Meledandri, the chief govt of the animation studio Illumination. While in Los Angeles, he had dinner with Jason Blum, the horror maestro behind Universal hits like “Get Out” and “Paranormal Activity.” He has additionally toured the “Today” present and visited the late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and he’s planning a tour of an NBCUniversal theme park below building in Orlando, Fla.

In these conferences, Mr. Cavanagh has emphasised that he’s not planning on making any main adjustments for the subsequent few months, in line with an individual with data of his early strikes within the job. But he has needed to take care of some sudden curveballs.

Mr. Cavanagh was unaware that Ms. Yaccarino had been chosen to function Twitter’s chief govt earlier than Elon Musk, the corporate’s proprietor, introduced that he had “hired a new CEO” on Twitter this month, the individual stated. Hours later, Mr. Cavanagh referred to as Ms. Yaccarino from a aircraft to coordinate her exit and pull her from the corporate’s annual gross sales pitch to advertisers. The tone of the dialog was pleasant, in line with an individual acquainted with the dialog, with Mr. Cavanagh wishing Ms. Yaccarino properly and saying that he wouldn’t stand in the way in which of her departure.

He has additionally needed to handle the fallout from a complaint lodged by a CNBC anchor that led to Mr. Shell’s dismissal. Mr. Cavanagh and Mr. Roberts fired Mr. Shell from the workplaces of a regulation agency in Philadelphia final month, folks acquainted with the matter stated. Mr. Cavanagh referred to as senior executives at NBCUniversal the weekend Mr. Shell was fired to tell them of the change, and he met with them in individual in New York afterward to reassure them that the broader imaginative and prescient for NBCUniversal wasn’t in query.

And the writers’ strike, a risk when Mr. Cavanagh took over, has floor to a halt NBC’s late-night exhibits, together with “Saturday Night Live.”

Big challenges nonetheless loom, together with getting NBCUniversal’s streaming enterprise to profitability and negotiating with Disney over the long run possession of the Hulu streaming service. Also hanging over NBCUniversal is the query of whether or not Comcast will determine to mix it with one other firm, because it tried to do final yr with Electronic Arts.

Despite these considerations, Comcast, the place Mr. Cavanagh stays president, has some factors in its favor that maybe give NBCUniversal some respiratory room. The firm’s share value has elevated this yr, outpacing a few of its friends, and it has cash-rich companies like broadband and wi-fi companies that offset declines elsewhere.

Though Mr. Cavanagh has been a robust determine at Comcast for years, concerned in NBCUniversal’s greatest selections, he stays a relative outsider in Hollywood. After his run at JPMorgan, he joined the Carlyle Group, a personal fairness agency the place he was co-president. He moved to Comcast in 2015 to grow to be its chief monetary officer.

Hollywood, which runs largely on private relationships, could be fickle towards new arrivals and even some who’ve been round for a few years.

Mark Shapiro, the president and chief working officer of Endeavor, the Hollywood leisure and sports activities colossus that represents NBCUniversal anchors like Rachel Maddow and Alex Wagner, stated Mr. Cavanagh’s profile in Hollywood may work in his favor.

“He can enter these rooms unencumbered by preconceptions and bring a fresh perspective to the industry’s most pressing challenges,” Mr. Shapiro stated.

Mr. Cavanagh had already solid some friendships with the Hollywood executives whom NBCUniversal is closest to. Mr. Blum, the founding father of the manufacturing firm Blumhouse, has stated he has gotten to know Mr. Cavanagh through the years, having lunch with him at Comcast’s headquarters in Philadelphia to debate Mr. Blum’s ambitions for his firm.

Comcast’s cash-rich companies, mixed with the necessity to considerably increase the variety of video subscribers, makes Comcast the standard media firm most probably to do the subsequent main deal, stated Craig Moffett, a senior managing director of SVB MoffettNathanson, a analysis agency.

“Fundamentally, that’s going to be the real career-defining decision for Mike,” Mr. Moffett stated.