Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal reports a big change for many Twin Cities based broadband customers…
Comcast Corp. will transfer its Twin Cities customers to a newly formed company under terms of a deal announced Monday.
The telecom giant’s agreement with Stamford, Conn.-based Charter Communications is part of Comcast’s strategy for winning regulatory approval of its $45 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable.
The Charter deal calls for Philadelphia-based Comcast to spin off a publicly traded company. Comcast would shift 2.5 million subscribers, including its Twin Cities and Detroit customers, to the yet-to-be named business, Reuters reports. Comcast shareholders would own two-thirds of the new venture, while Charter would own one third.
Comcast won’t manage the new company and Charter will appoint its board members, Comcast said in a press statement.
It is both amazing and scary that private companies have such influence over a community’s economic future. It is unclear what this transaction means to the Twin Cities.
What will the balance sheet of this new company look like? Will there be adequate equity for investment in ongoing network improvements or will the company be saddled with debt? It seems like a bizarre arrangement of a company selling part of itself to a new company, retaining majority ownership, but not controlling the board of directors or management.
In another example of corporate finance, the citizens of Annandale certainly know the impact when a small locally owned company sells out to a larger company. The chain of ownership of what was Qwest was a combination of leveraged buy-outs and financial shenanigans. CenturyLink assumed more than $10 billion in debt in their purchase of Qwest.
With broadband networks and services increasingly critical to a community’s competitive situation, this game of high finance and regulatory roulette adds incredible uncertainty to a community’s future.