R occo Commisso is an Italian-American billionaire businessman who is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Mediacom, one of the largest cable television companies in the United States. Born in Calabria, Italy, he immigrated to the United States at the age of 12. He attended Columbia University on a full scholarship, where he earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree in business administration. He began his career in the financial industry, working for companies like Pfizer and Chase Manhattan Bank, before moving into the cable industry.

He served as the CFO of Cablevision Industries before founding his own company, Mediacom, in 1995. He focused on acquiring and operating cable systems in smaller, underserved markets across the American Midwest and South. This strategy of targeting non-metropolitan areas proved highly successful, and he built Mediacom into the fifth-largest cable operator in the U.S. A passionate football (soccer) fan, Commisso has also made significant investments in the sport. In 2017, he purchased a majority stake in the New York Cosmos, and in 2019, he acquired the Italian Serie A football club, ACF Fiorentina.