If reading about people failing upwards makes you particularly angry, then maybe skip this post altogether. Word has it that NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker has accepted an exit package of between $30 and $40 million to leave the network he helped ruin sometime after Comcast officially acquires majority stake in NBC Universal in 2011. That’s right: You won’t have Jeff Zucker to kick around anymore. Eventually.

The reason this is going to take nearly a year is because Comcast isn’t allowed to make any personnel decisions until their takeover is official, which won’t happen until regulatory approval in early 2011. Zucker would then bow out as gracefully as he possibly could a couple of months after that. And while G.E. representatives deny this is happening, the NY Post reports that Zucker has been telling friends the deal is complete. Because, of course he has.

Lest you think the position is going to remain vacant, sources say there are already four people lined up to take Zucker’s place: NBC Universal Television Entertainment chairman, Jeff Gaspin; NBC Universal Cable Entertainment president, Bonnie Hammer; president of NBC Universal women and lifestyle entertainment networks, Lauren Zalaznick; and Comcast’s president of programming, Jeff Shell. No truth to the rumor that Zucker is leaving NBC to pursue his dream job: CEO of BP.

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