Key Highlights

  • Charter completed its combination with Cox Communications on August 20, 2026, extending its footprint to 45 states.
  • Second-quarter revenue was about $13.5 billion, down 1.7%, while adjusted EBITDA fell 4.3% to about $5.4 billion.
  • Internet customers fell by 172,000 to 29.4 million, while mobile added 406,000 lines to reach 12.5 million.
  • Principal debt stood at about $93.8 billion at June 30, before the Cox closing, alongside $509 million of cash.

Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) has spent 2026 doing two things at once: shrinking slightly in its core broadband business and swallowing a rival. The Nasdaq-listed cable group reported a small fall in second-quarter revenue and profit measures on July 24, 2026, and on August 20 it completed its combination with Cox Communications. The result is integration risk layered on a maturing market, with a very large debt pile and an active buyback program sitting between the two.

Business, sector and index status

Charter is a US cable operator that sells internet, mobile, video and voice services under the Spectrum brand and serves business customers through its mid-market and enterprise arms. The shares trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker CHTR, as confirmed by the company's investor-relations release on the Cox deal.

An exchange listing is not the same as index membership. Nasdaq's investor-relations archive shows that Charter was added to the Nasdaq-100 with effect from July 25, 2013, replacing BMC Software.

What the second quarter showed

The following figures are historical, drawn from Charter's second-quarter 2026 release, and cover the three months to June 30, 2026. Revenue was about $13.5 billion, down 1.7% on a year earlier. Net income was about $1.3 billion, a decline of 0.7%. Adjusted EBITDA was about $5.4 billion, down 4.3%, or 3.2% once transition costs are excluded, and the margin slipped to 40.3% from 41.4%.

Customer trends explain the pressure. Customer relationships totaled 31.5 million, down 1.7% year on year. Internet customers fell by 172,000 in the quarter to 29.4 million, video lost 21,000 and voice lost 178,000. Mobile was the bright spot, adding 406,000 lines to reach 12.5 million, growth of 15.5% over twelve months. Passings, the homes and businesses Charter can serve, rose 2.5% to 59.0 million.

Cox: the deal and what changes

Charter announced on August 20, 2026 that the Cox transaction had closed. According to the company, Cox Enterprises received roughly 33.6 million Charter Holdings common units, $6 billion of convertible preferred units and about $4 billion in cash, equivalent to just over 46 million Charter shares. Cox Enterprises holds around 26% of the fully diluted shares on an as-converted basis, and Liberty Broadband shareholders receive 0.236 Charter shares per Liberty Broadband share. Press reports put the overall value at $34.5 billion.

Governance has changed: Alex Taylor, chief executive of Cox Enterprises, is chairman, Chris Winfrey remains chief executive, and two Cox representatives joined the board. Charter says its footprint now spans 45 states and that the Spectrum brand was due to launch in Cox markets in mid-September 2026. The Charter release also refers to the parent company being renamed Cox Communications within a year.

Cash flow, debt and shareholder returns

Cash generation remains substantial but is being absorbed by investment. In the second quarter, operating cash flow was about $3.9 billion, up 9.0%, while capital expenditure was about $2.9 billion, broadly flat. Free cash flow was $969 million, down 7.4%. A summary of the release cites full-year 2026 capital expenditure of roughly $11.4 billion as an expectation, a figure that assumes the Cox deal completes, which it now has.

Debt is the central balance-sheet fact. Principal debt stood at about $93.8 billion at June 30, before the Cox closing, with $3.7 billion of undrawn credit and $509 million of cash. Charter also repurchased 4.0 million Class A shares for $838 million during the quarter and bought back $1.2 billion of debt principal for $1.0 billion of cash. The second-quarter release makes no mention of a common dividend.

Growth drivers and industry backdrop

Management's strategy leans on bundling mobile with home broadband, and mobile line growth is the most visible evidence of it. Charter is offering new Cox internet customers a free mobile line for one year, underlining mobile's role. If convergence works, it could offset weaker internet additions, but the second-quarter customer figures show that broadband losses were still outpacing the wider gains.

The industry backdrop is competitive. Cable operators face fixed wireless and fiber overbuilders, and a maturing broadband market limits growth. Scale is one response; the Cox combination adds customers and territory that Charter can attempt to run on a shared cost base. The company has also flagged transition costs and transition capital spending tied to the deal, which weigh on reported margins in the near term.

Risks

The main risks are readable from the disclosures. Broadband subscriber losses could persist; integration of a very large acquisition may cost more or take longer than planned; leverage leaves less room if interest rates or operating performance disappoint; and a roughly 26% holder now has significant influence over governance.

Integration Milestones and the Broadband Scorecard

The next milestone is the third-quarter 2026 results, which will be the first to include Cox for part of a period. Useful indicators include internet net additions, mobile line growth, the margin effect of transition costs, disclosed synergies, leverage after closing, the pace of buybacks, and any clarification on the company name and dividend policy.