Charter Communications to acquire Cox Communications in a $34.5 billion deal

Charter Communications and Cox Communications have announced their agreement to merge, with Charter set to acquire Cox in a transaction valued at $34.5 billion. Charter is widely recognised by its brand name, Spectrum and is a prominent television communications operator in the US. Under the proposed transaction, which already ranks as one of the year's most substantial ones, Charter will take over Cox’s commercial fibre operations along with its managed IT and cloud businesses . Meanwhile, Cox will contribute its residential cable business to Charter. In the merged entity, Cox will hold nearly 23% of the fully diluted shares of the merged company, the companies announced. Under the terms of the agreement, the combined entity will also take on Cox’s estimated $12 billion in outstanding debt.


What Charter and Cox said about the merger deal


In a joint press release, both companies noted that the merger will “create an industry leader in mobile and broadband communications services , seamless video entertainment, and high-quality customer service delivering powerful benefits for American employees, customers, communities, and shareholders.”

“This combination will augment our ability to innovate and provide high-quality, competitively priced products, delivered with outstanding customer service, to millions of homes and businesses,” Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said.

This deal is set to close alongside the Liberty Broadband merger, with the combined company rebranding as Cox Communications within a year. Spectrum will be the consumer brand in Cox’s current markets. Winfrey will stay on as CEO, and the company will remain based in Stamford, while maintaining a strong presence in Atlanta.

According to a report by Fast Company, the merger addresses the cable industry’s steep pay‑TV subscriber losses, which are driven by widespread “cord‑cutting” to streaming, by bolstering scale and focusing on broadband and mobile.

Charter has shed hundreds of thousands of pay‑TV customers and, if approved, would add Cox’s six million subscribers, even as overall industry pay‑TV rolls are projected to fall from 67.7 million at end‑2024 to 51.5 million by 2028, the report adds. The deal now hinges on shareholder and regulatory approval, marking a significant test of antitrust scrutiny in the post‑Trump era.