Charter shed 120,000 broadband customers as shares fell 25.5%

Charter Communications lost 120,000 broadband customers in its most recent quarter, a result that missed analyst estimates and drove a 25.5% decline in the stock, according to TradingKey. The company ended the period with 29.6 million broadband customers, down 455,000 from a year earlier, and the shares were trading at $147.99, roughly 18% below their pre-earnings level of about $180.

The subscriber losses came as Charter prepares to close its $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications, first announced in 2025 and since cleared by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department. Charter executives have said they expect the transaction to close by the summer of 2026. Cox is the third-largest US cable operator with about 6.5 million customers in 18 states, most of which do not overlap with Charter's 41-state territory. Jessica Fischer, chief financial officer, said the combination should produce $800 million in savings from procurement, technology consolidation and network operations.

Charter is also pursuing a merger with Liberty Broadband that would simplify its ownership structure.

First-quarter 2026 free cash flow was $1.4 billion on adjusted EBITDA of $5.6 billion, with capital spending of $11.4 billion tied to its Network Evolution upgrade program, targeted for completion in 2027. Total debt stood at $94.3 billion. Mobile lines reached 12.1 million, up 1.8 million over 12 months, with 368,000 added in the quarter. Video losses narrowed to 60,000 from 181,000 a year earlier.

This story was first reported by TradingKey.