Charter And Cox Communications Announce $34.5B Merger To Create Industry Behemoth

The United States’ largest cable companies, Charter Communications, Inc. (CHTR) and Cox Communications announced a merger on Friday that values the latter at approximately $34.5 billion.

The enterprise value comprises $21.9 billion of equity and $12.6 billion of net debt and other obligations.

While Charter Communications is publicly listed, Cox Communications is run by the Cox family.

Under the terms of the deal, one of the largest in corporate America in the last year, Charter will acquire Cox Communications' commercial fiber, managed IT, and cloud businesses.

Meanwhile, Cox Enterprises will contribute Cox Communications' residential cable business to Charter Holdings, an existing subsidiary partnership of Charter.

Cox Enterprises will receive $4 billion in cash as part of the transaction. At the same time, it will receive a $6 billion notional amount of convertible preferred units in Charter's existing partnership. These units pay a 6.875% coupon and are convertible into Charter partnership units, which are then exchangeable for Charter common shares.

Cox will also receive approximately 33.6 million common units in Charter's existing partnership, which have an implied value of $11.9 billion and can be exchanged for Charter common shares.

The combined entity, which will change its name to Cox Communications within one year of the deal's closing, will assume Cox's approximately $12 billion in outstanding debt. Cox Enterprises will own approximately 23% of the combined entity's fully diluted shares outstanding.

Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said the combination will augment the firm’s ability to innovate and provide high-quality, competitively priced products.

Following the deal's announcement, Charter shares shot up 9% in Friday’s pre-market trading. The stock has gained 20% in 2025 and 51% in the past 12 months.

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