PHOENIX (AZFamily /AP) - Charter Communications has offered to acquire Cox Communications, a $34.5 billion merger that would combine two of the top three cable companies in the U.S.
The combined company will change its name to Cox Communications within a year after closing. It will keep Charter's headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and have a significant presence on Cox's Atlanta, Georgia, campus following the closing.
Cox is the country's third-largest cable television and internet company, with more than 6.5 million digital cable, internet, telephone, and home security customers. In Arizona, Cox is the largest residential TV and internet service provider in the Phoenix metro area and the southern portion of Tucson.
Charter Communications, known more widely as Spectrum, has over 32 million customers in 41 states. Spectrum currently serves Yuma County in Arizona.
For years, streaming services like Disney, Netflix, Amazon, and HBO Max have assaulted the cable industry, as have internet plans offered by mobile phone companies. Comcast, nearly equal in size to Charter, spun off many of its cable television networks in November as consumers increasingly swap out their cable TV subscriptions for streaming platforms.
So-called "cord-cutting" has cost the industry millions of customers and left them searching for ways to successfully compete.
Charter said Friday that it will acquire Cox Communications' commercial fiber, managed IT, and cloud businesses. Cox Enterprises will contribute Cox Communications' residential cable business to Charter Holdings, an existing subsidiary partnership of Charter.
Cox Enterprises will own about 23% of the combined company's outstanding shares.
The transaction, which needs approval from Charter shareholders and regulators, includes $12.6 billion in debt.
The proposed deal is one of the largest in over a year. Mars' announced a $30 billion deal with Kellanova last summer and Exxon Mobil's approximately $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural happened in late 2023.
After the deal is complete, Charter CEO Chris Winfrey will become president and CEO of the combined company. Cox CEO and Chairman Alex Taylor will serve as chairman.
Cox will be able to keep two directors on the 13-member board. Advance/Newhouse, which is part of Charter, will retain its two board members.
The transaction is expected to close at the same time as Charter's merger with Liberty Broadband, which was approved by Charter and Liberty Broadband stockholders in February.
Shares of Charter rose more than 4% before the market opened. Cox is a private company.