Liberty Media has agreed to buy a 27.3 percent stake in cable television operator Charter Communications for roughly $2.6 billion, the companies announced Tuesday.
Liberty is buying the stakes from Apollo Management, Oaktree Capital Management and Crestview Partners. Charter provides video, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to approximately 5.2 million residential and business customers in 25 states.
Liberty spun off premium TV cable network Starz in January, and upped its stake to gain full control of Sirius XM Radio. Last week, Liberty president and chief executive Greg Maffei was named chairman of Live Nation. Liberty is the concert and ticketing company's largest shareholder, with a 27 percent stake.
"We are excited to make this investment in Charter, the fourth largest cable provider in the US," Maffei said in a statement Tuesday.
Liberty Media agreed not to increase its ownership in Charter above 35 percent until January 2016, and not to increase it past 39.99 percent after that point.
Both companies stocks' were up Tuesday, As of 11 a.m. ET. Liberty was up .89 percent to $111.64 per share, and Charter was up 1.20 percent to $99.22 per share.
