Comcast acquiring Time Warner Cable for $45 billion

It has been rumored that Comcast, the largest cable company in the U.S., is interested in buying Time Warner Cable. Well, it looks like the rumors are true.

CNBC‘s David Faber tweeted earlier this evening that Comcast will be announcing the purchase of Time Warner Cable tomorrow, Thursday. Faber says that it will be an all-stock deal with Comcast willing to pay $159 per share – roughly $23 per share higher than TWC’s current stock trading.

Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable in all stock deal worth $159 per $TWC share- sources. Deal set for tomorrow morning. Ratio is 2.875 $CMCSA.— DAVID FABER (@davidfaber) February 13, 2014

According to Barrons, Time Warner Cable has 277.9 million shares outstanding, which would put the deal at around $44 billion. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported a much higher agreement of $45 billion, adding that the board from both companies have already approved the deal.

Comcast buying Time Warner will be like AT&T acquiring T-Mobile. That means the deal is bound to face backlash and criticism.

It already has. Some took to Twitter to express their fears about the deal, tweeting that the acquisition will lead to fewer consumer options while giving Comcast more market control.

Comcast has over 22 million customers in the U.S. Time Warner Cable, on the other hand, has about 12 million.

Faber also tweeted that Comcast is willing to divest around 3 million subscribers to seal the deal, should it face ownership cap restrictions. Comcast has beaten another bid made by Charter Communications. The latter has been reportedly chasing TWC for months.

The latest bid, which was around $132.50, was rejected for being too low.