Charter to buy Liberty Broadband in all-stock transaction

Charter Communications Inc. agreed to buy Liberty Broadband Corp. in an all-stock transaction.

Under terms of the deal announced Wednesday, Liberty investors will receive 0.236 of a share of Charter common stock per share of Liberty, with cash to be issued instead of fractional shares.

Charter plans to retire the approximately 45.6 million Charter shares currently owned by Liberty Broadband and to issue approximately 34 million shares to holders of Liberty Broadband common stock at the closing.

A merger would consolidate two public companies in which cable billionaire John Malone holds significant interests. He holds a 49% voting stake in Liberty Broadband. Liberty in turn has a 26% interest in Charter on a fully diluted basis, according to Charter officials, and also operates an Alaskan telecom company.

Liberty had revealed plans in September to merge with Charter, one of the top pay-TV providers in the US and another of the media investor’s key holdings.

Some of Malone’s investments have registered steep declines as the pay-TV industry has lost customers to streaming and other forms of video entertainment, like YouTube.

Liberty Media President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Maffei will step down at the end of this year, the company said. Malone will take on the role of interim CEO.