The cable giants Charter Communications and Cox Communications said on Friday they had agreed to merge, a colossal deal that would create one of the biggest TV and internet providers in the United States.
The deal, which values Cox at roughly $34.5 billion, presents a test for President Trump’s antitrust enforcers. While many deal makers had expected the Trump administration to be more permissive than the Biden administration, many on Wall Street have been surprised by early signs that a tough-on-deals stance may persist.
Charter and Cox argued that the deal would help them compete against big rivals, including “larger, national broadband companies” — read: Comcast, Verizon and others — as well as satellite service providers. They are also likely to argue that their cable networks don’t significantly overlap geographically.
Charter and Cox signaled in their news release they were eager to secure the Trump administration’s approval of the deal. The announcement said that the merger “puts America first” by returning customer-service jobs from overseas, echoing the presidents campaign rhetoric. It also underscored the value of “unbiased news” produced by Charter and Cox, an apparent gesture toward mollifying the White House, which has been critical of the press. (Unmentioned in the news release was Axios, a scoopy Washington-based media organization owned by Cox.)
Under the terms of the merger, Charter will pay cash and stock, with the combined company set to take on the Cox name within a year after closing. Cox would become the combined company’s largest shareholder, with a 23 percent stake. The group expects to cut $500 million in annual costs within a few years of closing the deal, from “typical procurement and overhead savings.”
It wouldn’t be the first time the two have discussed a merger: They held talks 12 years ago, and John Malone, the telecom billionaire who is a major Charter shareholder, had named Cox last fall as one of the company’s potential transaction partners.
The deal is one of the biggest takeovers announced so far this year, along with Google’s planned acquisition of the cybersecurity provider Wiz for $32 billion. And it may show that, at least for some corporate leaders, uncertainty over the economy, driven in part by Mr. Trump’s trade policies, isn’t enough to deter them from major investments and acquisitions.
But antitrust approval is needed, and the Trump administration, which moved early to block deals like Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, has warned corporate America not to assume that all deals will pass muster.
“I don’t have an ideological predisposition against M.&A.,” Andrew Ferguson, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, said last month. “It doesn’t follow, however, that I think it should just be open season” for deal-making, he added.
Michael J. de la Merced has covered global business and finance news for The Times since 2006.
Lauren Hirsch covers Wall Street for The Times, including M&A, executive changes, board strife and policy moves affecting business.
Benjamin Mullin reports for The Times on the major companies behind news and entertainment. Contact him securely on Signal at +1 530-961-3223 or at [email protected].
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