Comcast agreed to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion Wednesday night, swooping in to top a bid by Charter Communications to merge the nation’s top two cable companies in a huge media deal, according to a person familiar with the matter.
In the all-stock deal, Comcast will pay $159 per share, representing an 18% premium from TWC’s Wednesday closing price of $135.31.
TWC’s shares have been rising as Comcast and Charter, backed by John Malone-led Liberty Media, have been jostling for months to acquire TWC and its 15 million customers, who subscribe to Internet, cable TV and phone services.
The deal is expected to be confirmed by both companies on Thursday morning, but even so any agreement will face intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators, who will have to wade through the issues of competitive pressures and the effects on pricing stemming from merging two cable giants.
Opponent of the merger including the authors of a petition at whitehouse.gov cite decreasing and possible cost increases for consumers as reason to block the deal.
