Charter may be close to acquiring Time Warner Cable for $55 billion

Charter Communications is said to be near a US$55 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable, a deal that would create a broadband powerhouse in the U.S. The deal could be announced as early as Tuesday, according to articles in the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, the first to report the story. Charter also plans to acquire Bright House Networks, a smaller cable company. If successful, the deals would make Charter, currently the fourth biggest cable company in the U.S., second to only Comcast. This is Charter’s second attempt to buy Time Warner Cable. After its first offer was rejected, Comcast in 2014 made its own bid. That deal, however, fell apart in April after the Federal Communications Commission referred the proposed acquisition to a hearing in front of a judge. The move effectively killed that plan because of the time and effort it would have taken. The U.S. Department of Justice also had been reportedly leaning toward blocking the merger on antitrust grounds, should it have received FCC clearance. Charter’s new bid is higher than Comcast’s proposed $45 billion deal. Charter is offering approximately $195 per share—14 percent above Time Warner Cable’s closing price Friday, according to the reports, citing people familiar with the matter.