According to the New York Post, cable giant Charter Communications is contemplating whether or not to acquire one of its biggest industry competitors – Cox Communications.
Cox is the third-largest cable provider in the United States, with over six million customers. The news comes in the wake of Charter’s acquisitions of companies like Time Warner Cable and BrightHouse over the past two years for a combined $67.1 billion.
Charter reportedly rejected a $100 billion merger offer from Verizon earlier this year. The offer amount was cited as the primary reason Charter rebuffed the proposal, but it now seems Charter had sights fixed on a different deal with Cox.
“Tom wants to buy Cox,” says one Post source who is reportedly close to the situation. “If they’re (Cox) going to sell it to anyone, they’re going to sell it to an old cable guy.”
The Post indicates Charter’s Chief Executive Tom Rutledge is closely monitoring Cox, despite the Atlanta-based company having rejected similar inquiries from larger industry competitors. Cox has publically stated on multiple occasions that the family-owned company isn’t for sale.
Nonetheless, a good number of industry insiders believe the cable company has reason to change its mind.
News of the reported merger comes just two months after Cox Enterprises (parent company of Cox Communications), named Alex Taylor the company’s next CEO. Taylor is the great-grandson of James Cox, the company’s founder who began the company back in 1962.
