Charter Communications acquires Cox Communications
- Acquirer
- Charter Communications
- Target
- Cox Communications
- Deal Value
- $34.5B
- Status
- Completed
- Announced
- May 16, 2025
What happened
Charter Communications and Cox Communications announced on May 16, 2025 an agreement to combine at a Cox enterprise value of $34.5 billion, uniting the second- and third-largest US cable operators into the country's largest broadband provider. Family-owned Cox Enterprises took an approximately 23% stake in the combined company, which adopts the Cox Communications name over time while keeping Spectrum as the consumer brand. The deal cleared federal review and state approvals and has since completed.
Why it matters
The broadband framing buries the wireless story. Charter and Cox both run fast-growing MVNOs on Verizon's network, and the combined entity will control the largest MVNO subscriber base in the country. That gives one company enormous leverage over wholesale terms, and every smaller MVNO will feel the effects of whatever precedent that negotiation sets.
Source: Charter Communications
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