Verizon Reportedly Mulling Charter Acquisition

A new report is making the rounds on major financial publications today. It’s claimed that Verizon is thinking about acquiring Charter which is the second largest cable company in the United States. If this does end up happening, Verizon will carve itself an enviable position in the country’s cable market. Nothing has been confirmed at this point in time, obviously, but there are enough whispers to make people pay attention.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon is “exploring” the idea of acquiring Charter. It does mention that the process is still in the early stages and that it’s quite likely that both companies fail to reach a deal.

About that enviable position. Charter recently closed its acquisition of Time Warner Cable and is now the second-largest cable provider in the country, only behind Comcast. If Verizon does end up buying it, it’s going to have massive reach in both wired and wireless markets.

Naturally, a deal of this magnitude would require a lot of foresight and is simply not something that can be rushed. Both companies are going to have their own positions on the matter that they will want to protect. Nevermind the fact that there will be countless regulatory hurdles that would need to be cleared as well.

There hasn’t been a confirmation or denial about talks between the two companies from either Verizon or Charter so we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Charter, time warner cable, Verizon