12.01.2008 11:20 am
Rival executive says Charter isn’t cheap to buy
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Time Warner Cable’s chief financial officer, Rob Marcus, made some interesting remarks today about competitor Charter Communications. Reuters has the report:
“Charter is an example of a situation when you really have to look at more than the stock price,” CFO Rob Marcus told the Reuters Media Summit in New York, when asked about rumors that Time Warner Cable may buy Charter.
“Even today at the level they’re trading — at pennies essentially — (Charter) is still trading at an enterprise value that is probably double the enterprise value of Comcast or Time Warner Cable,” Marcus said. “So that tells me it’s not cheap at all.”
Marcus goes on to say that Charter’s huge debt load would be difficult for any acquirer to swallow.
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David Nicklaus has covered St. Louis business for more than 25 years. His column appears three days a week on the Post-Dispatch business page. 
Is anyone surprised by this? No one will acquire Charter now when they can simply purchase the assets that make sense after Charter’s lenders begin to sell off Charter’s assets. For example, Time Warner can buy Charter areas and assets that make sense for Time Warner to buy.
Right now, Charter has 8 billion dollars more in debt than in assets. Why would you pay 8 billion extra?
Way to go, Charter. You’ve just about debt-finance-acquisitioned yourself right into oblivion. But hey, your executive board members got some fat paychecks, so they’ll be just fine.
Charter is a joke.
I hate seeing a large local company struggle. I have had Charter for 20 years and never had any issues. (But from what I hear, I’m the minority). Shame.
Charter’s problems begin and end with Paul Allen. As the controlling shareholder, he selected the various management teams which includes some who were found guilty of committing fraud.