Charter Communications To Buy Time Warner Cable For $55 Billion, Creating Cable Powerhouse
ByCharter Communications CHTR +2.5% said on Tuesday morning it will buy Time Warner Cable TWC +7.26% for $100 a share in cash and 0.5409 of its shares, in a merger that will create the second largest cable and broadband operator in the United States. The cash and stock deal values Time Warner TWX -0.62% Cable at $195.71 a share based on May 20 closing stock prices, or over $55 billion, and comes a months after Comcast CMCSA +1.24% dropped a $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable amid regulatory scrutiny.
Charter’s takeover effort comes amid a bout of consolidation in the communications industry as operators look at mergers as a way of increasing scale and efficiency, while also serving new consumer habits such as the growing adoption of streaming video. It also represents a major new investment by billionaire John Malone in the U.S. cable industry. Malone’s Liberty Media LMCA -0.38% owns roughly 27% of Charter Communications after a 2013 share purchase deal, and another company he controls, Liberty Broadband, will play a key financing role in Tuesday’s mega-merger…
Charter Communications To Buy Time Warner Cable For $55 Billion, Creating Cable Powerhouse
