After nearly a decade helping steer Charter Communications' cable and broadband business, CFO Jessica Fischer is leaving for a Blackstone- and Google-backed venture investing billions to meet soaring demand for AI computing capacity. Fischer wrote on LinkedIn that she is joining the newly formed joint venture in October, and a Blackstone spokesperson confirmed to CFO Daily that she will become CFO of the venture. She will step down from Charter on Oct. 15, with Kevin Howard, a Charter veteran and its EVP, chief accounting officer, and controller, appointed interim CFO.
Blackstone and Google announced the venture in May, with plans to build a U.S.-based company providing computing infrastructure for AI models and applications. Blackstone is committing an initial $5 billion in equity, and the company is targeting 500 megawatts of capacity by 2027, with plans to expand substantially beyond that. Google will provide its AI chips and related technology, while longtime Google infrastructure executive Benjamin Treynor Sloss will serve as CEO. Fischer, age 41, joined Charter as corporate treasurer in 2017 and became CFO in 2021. Charter said in an SEC filing that her resignation did not stem from a disagreement with the company and was unrelated to its operations or financial reporting.
The move places an experienced Fortune 500 finance chief at the center of one of corporate America's biggest investment booms. Charter is competing for subscribers in a mature connectivity market, while Fischer's new employer is preparing to spend billions building computing capacity as demand for AI infrastructure accelerates. Her background overseeing finance at a large public company accustomed to long-term infrastructure investments is directly relevant to an industry requiring huge upfront investments and decisions about how quickly to add capacity when future demand and returns remain uncertain.
What remains unknown is how the venture's capital deployment will unfold beyond the initial $5 billion equity commitment and the 500-megawatt target, and whether Fischer's public-company discipline will translate to a private, infrastructure-heavy buildout. The dossier does not specify Fischer's compensation, the venture's total projected cost, or how Charter's permanent CFO search will proceed. The evidence comes from a single Fortune report, so independent corroboration of the venture's operational details is not yet available.