Charter Offers $61 Billion For Time Warner Cable: What About Comcast?
Charter Communications Charter Communications offered $61.3 billion in cash and stock for Time Warner Cable , according to Charter CEO Tom Rutledge in an interview with Bloomberg News. The offer is $132.50 per share, including about $83 in cash and $49.50 in Charter stock. If the takeover goes through, it would be the largest of a cable company since 2001, when Comcast bought AT&T Broadband.
At market close on Monday, Time Warner's market capitalization was more than twice the smaller Charter, at nearly $38 billion to nearly $14 billion, respectively. Charter apparently went to Time Warner in December with a similar offer, but it was rejected as Time Warner executives asked for a higher price.
Billionaire John Malone's Liberty Media is the largest stakeholder in Charter, and his career is filled with major acquisition attempts. Already this year he proposed absorbing the rest of satellite radio company Sirius XM.
One unresolved question about this potential massive cable merger is the role of Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider. Comcast, which just added TV subscribers for the first time in six years, has also been rumored to be in the running for Time Warner. They could also split the company with Charter, adding some regional markets and cable networks.
Time Warner's stock price has risen over 35% in the last year as sale rumors picked up. Shares traded up slightly in after hours trading.
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