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Media mogul John Malone wants to be the “king of cable” once more.
Malone’s Liberty Media is reportedly in talks to acquire a 25 percent stake in Charter Communications for about $2.5 billion.
The stock jumped nearly 9 percent, to $98.04, yesterday on the talks, first reported by WSJ.com.
Shares of Charter — run by former Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge — are up 40 percent in the past year despite a hefty $11 billion in debt.
The stock has popped on rumors that it could be sold or merged with Cablevision or another cable provider.
Like shareholders, Malone is also banking on continued growth from Charter, the eighth-biggest pay-TV firm, with 4 million subscribers.
Both Charter and Liberty declined to comment.
Charter, which moved its headquarters to Stamford, Conn., from St. Louis late last year, is concentrated mostly in Western states.
Richard Tullo, media analyst at Albert Fried & Co., is skeptical a deal will happen but noted that Charter has a high exposure to the more lucrative business customers.
Malone built Tele-Communications Inc. into a global cable giant.
Last month Liberty, led by CEO Greg Maffei, struck a $23.3 billion deal to acquire UK pay-TV firm Virgin Media, making it the biggest owner of cable assets in the world.
Friends say Malone is less interested in the mature TV business than the broadband services that consumers can’t live without.
Malone and CEO Rutledge know each other from Malone’s days on Cablevision’s board, back in 2005. Rutledge quit as Cablevision chief operating officer in late 2011.
Liberty is expected to acquire the Charter stake from two private equity firms, Apollo and Oaktree.
Barton Crockett, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, said Liberty could fund the deal by selling non-core assets including stakes in Time Warner, Time Warner Cable, and Viacom.