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Significant Transactions
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2014
Significant Transactions

Note 4: Significant Transactions

Time Warner Cable Merger

On February 12, 2014, we entered into an agreement and plan of merger (the “merger agreement”) with Time Warner Cable Inc. (“Time Warner Cable”) whereby Time Warner Cable will become our wholly owned subsidiary (the “Time Warner Cable merger”). Time Warner Cable stockholders will receive, in exchange for each share of Time Warner Cable common stock owned immediately prior to the Time Warner Cable merger, 2.875 shares of our Class A common stock. We estimate that at the time of closing, Time Warner Cable stockholders will own approximately 24% of the outstanding shares of our common stock. Because the exchange ratio was fixed at the time of the merger agreement and the market value of our Class A common stock will continue to fluctuate, the number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued and the total value of the consideration exchanged will not be determinable until the closing date. The Time Warner Cable merger was approved by Comcast shareholders on October 8, 2014 and by Time Warner Cable stockholders on October 9, 2014. The Time Warner Cable merger remains subject to regulatory review and other customary conditions and is expected to close in early 2015.

Divestiture Transactions

The terms of the merger agreement contemplate that we are prepared to divest systems serving up to approximately 3 million video customers of our company following the Time Warner Cable merger in order to obtain applicable regulatory approvals. As a result of this commitment, on April 25, 2014, we entered into a transactions agreement with Charter Communications, Inc. (“Charter”) that, if consummated, would satisfy the divestiture undertaking. Under the transactions agreement, following the close of the Time Warner Cable merger and subject to various conditions, we would divest cable systems resulting in a net disposition of approximately 3.9 million video customers through three transactions: (1) a spin-off of cable systems serving approximately 2.5 million of our video customers (the “spin-off transaction”) into a newly formed public entity (“SpinCo”), (2) an exchange of cable systems serving approximately 1.5 million Time Warner Cable video customers for cable systems serving approximately 1.7 million Charter video customers, and (3) a sale to Charter of cable systems serving approximately 1.5 million Time Warner Cable video customers for cash (collectively, the “divestiture transactions”).

In connection with the spin-off transaction and prior to the spin-off, it is expected that SpinCo will incur new debt to fund a cash distribution to us and to issue notes to us, which the notes will enable us to then retire a portion of our debt. In the spin-off transaction, we will distribute common stock of SpinCo pro rata to the holders of all of our outstanding common stock, including the former Time Warner Cable stockholders who continue to hold shares through the record date of the spin-off transaction. After the spin-off transaction, a newly formed, wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Charter will merge with and into Charter with the effect that all shares of Charter will be converted into shares of a new holding company, which will survive as the publicly traded parent company of Charter (“New Charter”). New Charter will then acquire an interest in SpinCo by issuing New Charter stock in exchange for a portion of the outstanding SpinCo stock, following which it is expected that Comcast shareholders will own approximately 67% of SpinCo and New Charter will own approximately 33% of SpinCo. In addition, it is expected that Comcast shareholders will own approximately 10% of New Charter, though the actual percentage of New Charter that will be owned by Comcast shareholders will depend on a number of factors, some of which will not be known until the completion of the divestiture transactions. Following the close of the divestiture transactions, we will no longer have any ownership interest in SpinCo.

The close of the divestiture transactions is subject to the completion of the Time Warner Cable merger, Charter stockholder approval, completion of the SpinCo financing transactions, regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. The Time Warner Cable merger and the divestiture transactions are subject to separate conditions, and the Time Warner Cable merger can be completed regardless of whether the divestiture transactions are ultimately completed.